Bonds of Blood
by jazzhands14
Summary: Years ago, the Mayan's predicted the end of the world. On December 21st, 2012, everything that has been known will fall to pieces, leaving behind a world of anger and chaos. Can a small group of small town Canadians fight the odds and survive? M Gore
1. Darn Mexicans

_Hey anybody who is reading this. So basically I was playing Left 4 Dead the other day and I thought to myself; Self, if this pandemic overtook the entire world, what about the other places, like where I live, Canada. As I thought of it, pieces came into my mind. A short, biracial gamer girl, her medicinally inclinced boyfriend, another pair of friends, a logical blonde maybe, and an ex-greaser. What about a stereotypical blonde girl and a blue haired wannabe to complete the package. What if it was tied into the Mayan calender. Well, this is what I wound up with. I hope you like it. Review's make me happy, feel free to complement or criticise._

Disclaimer- I do not own Left 4 Dead, Aaron, Jocelyn and the others are mine though.

Note; The characters had very, very firm relations in my mind, and so I wrote them as if the roots of their story had already happened, if I notice something is off looking, I'll fix it, but I can't promise I'll get them all, please just bare with me. An example would be all the characters knowing one another already, or another character that will later be introduced having been the object of one of the main girl's crush since 9th grade. Thank you, on with the show I suppose!

* * *

"Long ago, the Mayans predicted the end of the world in this year, the year of 2012," the guide mused happily as he pointed out famous monuments in the ruined paradise.

"I heard about that …" A teenage boy stepped out of the tour group. "Legend tells that the Solstice on December 21, 2012 at precisely 11:11AM Universal Time marks the completion of the 5,125th year Great Cycle of the Ancient Maya Long Count Calendar," he said. The tour guide just stared at him resentfully. "Yes, well, as I was saying …" he continued as a slender coffee coloured arm snaked its way through a parting in the sea of people, grabbed the teen by the arm and pulled him back.

"Aaron, do you want to get us kicked out of here?" The arm's owner asked him bluntly.

The girl put her hands on her hips and leaned into him.

"That wouldn't have happened," Aaron said, rolling his eyes.

"Yes. Yes it would have."

"Oh …" Aaron glanced down at the ground and smirked. He was tall with shaggy brown hair and had a fairly suntanned look all year round. His eyes were an expressive dark chocolate colour, ringed with a light tinge of blue from his contact lenses. He was currently wearing a tight black polo t-shirt and white cargo shorts. Aaron had a nasty habit of knowing more than he should, both in and out of school. People tended to come to him for advice on their problems, so before most others, Aaron would know that the school slut was pregnant, or that the quarter-back was a father. That was just the kind of guy Aaron was. His peers liked him because he listened and helped, parents loved him for caring, but people with low budget gutter-jobs, like this tour guide, loathed him when he decided to express his intellect.

"You know, if I spend much more time in the sun, I'm going to turn completely black," Vivian said. She had light brown, café au lait-coloured skin, with tightly curled dark hair that fell in sheets to her shoulders. Her eyes, too, were dark, but filled more with enthusiasm than emotions. She sported a tight fitting red tank-top with jean Capri's. Vivian was that one person who could always cheer you up, whether it was something as simple as making a joke about her half-blackness, or something as difficult as texting you until three in the morning, repeatedly coming up with a slur of encouraging words and hilarious innuendos. Without Vivian and her humour, many people would admit to having cracked. She could win over almost anybody if they managed to break her out of her shell, for Vivian tended to be almost invisible to people who weren't paying attention. She spoke softly when she felt intimidated, and so, she could pretty much get away with saying anything.

"Oh my," a second girl said. She flipped her bangs out of her eyes and raised an eyebrow. Jocelyn had long gold-coloured hair that floated to the small of her back, like a smooth curtain of every shade of brown and blonde imaginable. Her hair was always covering her right eye, but not in a gothic manner, rather, in a way that was just very Jocelyn. Jocelyn was a very quiet girl who currently donned purple and white plaid shorts and a plain t-shirt with a beach at sunrise stitched into the front. She was quiet and logical, grounded and fun at the same time. Jocelyn was intuitive and inventive and exciting but reserved; a blend few people were gifted enough to see.

It was December 21st in Lamanai, Belize, and several people were currently partaking in a tour of the ruined Mayan city at 10 in the morning.

"When does this tour end?" Matt frowned. Matt too, was a high school senior, who had agreed to the trip to the ruins that their school had put together. (Thirty individuals had been chosen, and then split into groups of six to explore the Mayan ruins on the alleged doomsday.) He had thick hair that he had dyed black during his second year of high school and was wearing jeans and a loose black t-shirt, advertising some band. He had at one point been kind of a loser, but Vivian had begun taking a shine to him approximately three years ago, and now, he was a close friend of the group. Matt was fun to be around, he had stories and several hidden talents that were just plain interesting, like origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper folding. Was it useful? Not really. But was it entertaining? Most definitely. He wasn't extremely smart or organized, but he had managed to boost his grades enough to slide through to senior year with the rest of them.

"That sign said at 11 ..." a third girl said. "And it's, like ..." She glanced at the bright yellow watch on her arm, "11 ..." She nodded. Daphne had blonde hair with pale white skin, not as pale as Jocelyn's, but still fairly light. She was wearing yellow and orange plaid booty shorts and a tight hot pink tank-top, the hot weather much different than the normal Canadian chill that she was used to. Her eyes were a blue that seemed to pierce you, but it was really the aesthetic perfectionism of her that got to you; light, flawless skin; soulful eyes; blonde, shoulder-length hair; long legs and full lips. She was every guys dream, but her emotions tended to run wild, and so, she was usually single: they all were, except for Aaron and Vivian who had been dating for three years, three months and twenty-eight days, as he had quickly calculated when she asked him that morning. They had spent all night in her hotel room last night, for his birthday.

"Thank you very much for participating in Mayan Tours, please follow the signs to the exit. Please do not leave the path." As the tour group moved off, Jocelyn moved to follow but Jasper pulled her back to where he and Daphne were. The others paused.

"So ... we're obviously going to leave it right?" The last guy in their group spoke arrogantly. He had curly hair dyed blue and pasty white skin. This was Jasper, he had transferred from Transylvania two years ago. Jasper wasn't really much a part of their group, he was more of an enigma actually, he had simply been bunched with them when they couldn't find a sixth person. Daphne seemed to have taken a shine to him though. "Oh yeah, for sure!" Daphne readily agreed with him, as she had been doing since they arrived.

"I don't know ..." Jocelyn frowned.

"Oh, come on. It'll be fun." Matt clapped her on the back and moved to stand where Jasper had wrapped his arm around Daphne.

"But what if we get caught? It says trespassers will be shot." Aaron pointed to a metal sign screwed into a fence post nearby.

"We could say we got separated from the tour."

"I kind of want to go ..." Vivian said nervously.

"Fine," Aaron agreed.

"Fine." Jocelyn waved her arms above her head in defeat.

* * *

11:04

"All right. Where are we?" Aaron rounded on Jasper.

"Who cares?" Jasper shot back.

"Me! I thought when you suggested going off on our own that you had a destination!"

"Well, what fun is that? Who cares?" He repeated.

"Obviously me!"

"Boys!" Daphne shoved them apart, as they argued they had stepped closer and chances are Jasper would've thrown the first punch shortly thereafter. Aaron and Jasper hadn't gotten along well since they arrived.

"He's just jealous that I could totally grind his coffee-cup whenever I wanted," Jasper sneered. Vivian looked taken aback.

"And that," Aaron pointed out, "is exactly why I hate you!"

"Because I could totally do your girlfriend?"

"Because you think you could totally do my girlfriend!"

"Which you couldn't." Vivian pointed out, looking offended.

"Oh please, you totally want some o' this." He gestured to his crotch and Vivian smiled and stepped forwards, passing Aaron and Daphne and slowly stroking Jasper's cheek. She smiled sweetly.

"You know Jasper. I do want you to do one thing for me." She flashed him a blinding smile. Jasper smirked and locked eyes with Aaron before licking his lips and nodding.

"Anything baby."

Vivian's smile suddenly vanished and she slapped him across the face. Hard. Then the smile was back. "Feel pain." She walked away but Daphne blocked her.

"You apologize to him!" she shrieked.

"Why should I? He's a cocky jerk."

"He's just confident." She grimaced. "Now apologize."

"No."

"I'm bigger than you," she threatened.

"I'm tougher than you," Vivian retorted.

"I won't hold her back," Aaron admitted.

"I won't either," Jasper flared and stepped up to Aaron.

"I'm scared," Jocelyn whispered to Matt, wide eyed.

"I think I'll go help Aaron," Matt then all hell broke loose.

Daphne slapped Vivian and smiled rudely, but then Vivian punched her in the mouth, splitting her lip open. Daphne shrieked and charged at her, knocking her down between where Jasper and Aaron were standing. Aaron turned to look at Jocelyn who shrugged and Jasper took this time to punch him in the side of the head. Matt came up behind Jasper and elbowed his gut. As Jasper doubled over, Matt helped Aaron to his feat.

Vivian twisted her body until she was on top and started slapping Daphne repeatedly, whilst Daphne frantically tried to twist away. Jocelyn raced over and grabbed Vivian off of Daphne and then held them apart. "We shouldn't be fighting," she said and both girls appeared to calm. "Good," she said, taking a step back. Then Daphne charged again, but Vivian sidestepped and swung her hand into Daphne's nose. It started to gush blood and she swung at Vivian, hitting her in the chest.

"You hit my boob!" Vivian gasped and lunged at Daphne, sidestepping Matt, who had been hit to the ground by Jasper. Aaron ducked a blow and leaped to the side as Jasper tried to hit him too, tripping him up with his left foot. Jasper fell to the ground and Matt pounced, kicking him repeatedly. Jocelyn watched nervously.

And then came the first gun-shot. All of the action stopped.

"I told you!" Aaron yelled. "They don't even have to ask questions! We're not a tour group, they can just shoot!"

"Run!" Jocelyn yelled and took off in one direction. Daphne ran in the other. Jasper followed her. The other's followed Jocelyn.

* * *

11:09

"We got shot at ..." Vivian said nervously. She, Aaron, Jocelyn and Matt had found a rather homey feeling cave, dodging bullets as they whizzed by. There appeared to be only one shooter, and he alternated between their group, and Daphne's.

"You mustn't be here!" a voice called out from farther in the cave. Aaron shivered.

"All right, let's leave." Vivian grabbed Jocelyn's arm and hurried to exit immediately. Aaron didn't follow.

"Wait! Stay!" the voice called again.

Jocelyn stopped and raised an eyebrow. "Could you, like, make up your mind?"

"Stay, stay," the voice said again, and then a figure appeared. The woman before then was old and obese, but amazingly beautiful. She had black, coal coloured skin that was pure and clean looking all over, covered with woven burlap dressings. What looked like nothing but underwear, but still managed to ooze grace and wisdom and beauty. Her voice was silky and smooth and husky, yet pure. Her hair was a single sheath of black silk that fell to the floor, topped with a tiara made from brittle twigs and stone. Vivian looked at Aaron oddly. Matt too wasn't moving. They just stared at her. She looked like an Amazonian princess.

"What's wrong with them?" Jocelyn asked nervously.

The woman chuckled, a tinkling, pleasant sound. Matt and Aaron sighed simultaneously. "They are smitten with me."

"What?" Vivian said angrily. She slapped Aaron's chest, but he didn't move.

"I have been gifted by the Mayan gods, with immense health and beauty. They can't help but adore me. This is why I chose to live in these caves, for though all men loved me, as I so wished, none were capable of speech or actually loving, struck dumb were they by my appearance." The old woman was at once contrite, but breathed a shuttering breath and stared at a formation of rocks at the entrance to the cave. "11:10. There is no time!" She rushed to the back of the cave and grabbed a clay bowl of purple-green potion. "Drink! Drink!" She pressed the bowl into Vivian's hands and disappeared back into the cave.

"Should I?"

"She's pretty ..." Matt breathed once the woman was out of sight, her spell having a weaker effect on him now. "What's that?" He pointed at the jar.

"Umm ... juice?" Jocelyn said awkwardly, then motioned for Vivian to pass him the bowl. He took it and drank.

"That tasted great." He passed it to Aaron as he shook out of his stupor. He too drank.

"Yum." He licked his lips. "Want some?" He passed it back to the girls. They shrugged and each took a drink. The woman returned then and Aaron and Matt returned to their state of dumbness. She scoffed and rolled her eyes. In her arms were sturdy looking contraptions.

"Use these for protection." She thrust them into Jocelyn's arms and then nodded to them. "I must leave you know. But remember me as I am now, the beautiful Wise Woman Forsyth." And then she disappeared.

"Bows and arrows?" Aaron asked. "When did you build them?"

"I didn't," Vivian said stubbornly. "You were too busy drooling over that woman to notice what she was doing at all! She brought these out for us to protect ourselves ..."

"Protect ourselves from what though?" Jocelyn asked, taking a bow from the pile she had dropped on the ground. It was sturdy and wooden she grabbed an arrow and pulled back on the bowstring. She took aim farther back in the cave to test the weapon when a shriek rang out and a figure sprang out of the shadows. Jocelyn screamed and lost her grip on the arrow-head, sending it flying into the head of the oncoming humanoid. "Oh, my God!" she gasped and backed up. Aaron, Vivian and Matt all grabbed a weapon quickly.

"What was that?" Vivian asked nervously. Aaron inched forwards nervously and stared down into the figure's face. The arrow markings, the red eyes and the bleeding, toothless mouth couldn't totally mar the beauty that once was.

"Oh, my God," Jocelyn gasped once again. "It's Wise Woman Forsyth. What happened?" She dropped to her knees and started to tear up.

"She's a zombie," Vivian said certainly. "Left 4 Dead, remember? The video game? Its creators were Mayan worshipers, I read about it online. This is what they meant; the Mayan's knew that science would eventually ruin evolution. There was a plan that started long ago, a formula for agelessness. Nobody would ever have to die, at least not of old-age. There were flaws in the plan, but I'm guessing the scientists were too involved to even consider backing out. Over the years, the idea has evolved and evolved and finally, we had the resources to make it work. The Mayan's mapped out when exactly this would happen and discovered that it fell on this day, at this time. It wasn't spiritual at all, it was mathematical and scientific. The formula must not have been finished and then was released, turning the people into a state of living-death instead."

"How did you know all that?" Matt asked. Aaron and Jocelyn stared at her dumbfounded. Vivian blushed.

"I was bored on Google one day ..." she admitted.

"So why aren't we zombies?" Aaron asked.

"I'm guessing that Wise Woman Forsyth was a scientist and that potion we drank was an antidote."

"Immunization?"

"What?"

"An antidote would heal you, an immunization would prevent you from getting sick." Aaron explained.

Vivian sighed. "Whatever."

"Well aren't some people naturally immune to stuff though?" Jocelyn pointed out.

"Yeah, there must be a few hundred people that won't become zombies," Vivian said.

"You're assuming your theory is correct, we don't know if most people on Earth suddenly became un-dead." Aaron tried to reason. Jocelyn nodded.

"Yeah, we should go into town, if everybody is a zombie, we'll high-jack a car and get to the airport, then fly back to Canada to find living people there to help us. If everybody is alive, we'll say that there is some sort of disease out here in the caves and a woman was infected by it that needs looking into."

"Thank God you're you." Aaron mock bowed. "I honestly didn't have a plan." Just then a shadow passed in front of the cave opening. Vivian ducked behind a boulder. Aaron followed her, both of them leaving their weapons behind. Matt grabbed his bow and hid in a corner while Jocelyn ran for her arrow, leaving her in plain sight. A flash of blue hair passed by the cave entrance and Jocelyn turned around.

"Jasper?"

"Jocelyn!" Vivian yelled and a long winding tongue lurched in and curled around her. Jocelyn screamed as she was dragged from the cave.

"No!" Aaron yelled and hurdled the boulder. Matt was already gone, racing ahead with his bow at the ready. Aaron forgetfully left his behind, but Vivian grabbed hers and was gone, leaving the cave as empty as it had been, not ten minutes before. Bursting out, the group found that the sunlight was now hidden behind dark clouds, casting an ominous grey light upon their surroundings. And then the rain started.

Matt sprinted faster than he'd ever sprinted before, his shoes sloshing in the already mucky sand, he knew that Aaron could easily catch up with them, but he didn't have a weapon and probably wouldn't leave Vivian all alone in a mass of crumbling ruins if he did. He knew she couldn't catch him, so it was all on his shoulders to save Jocelyn. He could hear her screaming farther up and somehow managed to double his already fast pace until he knew he was gaining on the sounds.

"Help me, please!" Jocelyn shrieked from somewhere close by and Matt leapt over another rocky outcropping, bow in hand, landing directly on the shoulders of Jasper. Or at least, what remained of Jasper.

His previously pale skin was now purplish and bulbous looking. His eyes had turned from green to red and his posture was slouched backwards, so that his chest stuck out in front of him. But the one detail that was the most apparent was his tongue. It was long and sticky and currently wrapped tightly around Jocelyn, her cheeks were turning blue as she fought for breath. He was beating against her with his decaying fists like a butcher attempting to tenderize a piece of meat.

"Save me ..." Jocelyn wheezed and Matt jumped back, off of Jasper. The zombie turned and glared at him angrily.

"Aaron! Viv!" he called, before pulling his arrow from the bow. He jumped and stabbed it through the fiend's still extended tongue. It recoiled and jumped backwards a short distance.

"Aw, hell. You were a bitch before you turned and you're a bitch again!" Aaron spat as he hurtled the outcropping.

"Jasper's a Smoker," Vivian said matter-of-factly as she climbed after him. "The Wise Woman was a Hunter." She paused. "Where's Daphne?" She didn't receive her answer, however, as Jasper's tongue, which had unravelled from Jocelyn, was now snaking around her and dragging her away. Vivian screamed, dropping her bow, and hooked her arms around a rock, stopping Jasper in his tracks.

Aaron grabbed a broken chunk of stone and ran at him. "This is going to feel so good." He winked at Vivian as he passed. Jasper was trying frantically to pull her off of the rock, but she held strong and soon Aaron was upon him, rock in hand. He brought it down, wincing slightly as it connected with his swollen face. Blood splattered up, but Aaron jumped awkwardly out of the way. And then started coughing hard as he was enveloped in a cloud of fumes. He waved his hands in front of his mouth to blow away the smoke. Vivian, now free from her bindings, grabbed his arm and pulled him away. "Thanks," He wheezed.

"My hero." She mocked and he stuck out his tongue, but immediately tasted the grimy coating that layered his lips. "Ugh! Gross!" He started clawing at his tongue whilst Vivian laughed. They went back to rejoin the others.

"Y'okay, JL?" Aaron asked.

"Yeah, if it makes you feel any better, Aaron turned into a chimney pipe!" His girlfriend giggled and he shoved her playfully.

"You hush."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little short of breath. Did you get him?" Jocelyn cocked her head. Aaron nodded. "You didn't kill Jasper, you know. That thing was not Jasper. Just like, wherever she is, Daphne is not Daphne, and we will have to kill her." There was a moment of silence in which nobody spoke.

"How though?" Matt bit his lip. "How are we supposed to fight anything with just these?" He gestured to the wood in his hands.

"I killed that Smoker with a rock." Aaron pointed back in the direction of the execution.

"Well, we can't just keep using whatever we find. We need something we can rely on, and Jocelyn left her weapon back with yours," Matt pointed out. "And Vivian and I can't fight off a bunch of zombies with one arrow a piece using a weapon we've never used before."

"Infected," Vivian said.

"What?"

"In the game, they're called infected."

"Oh. Cool." Matt turned and pointed into the near distance. "Jasper led us here by accident, but I like to think he wanted to do something nice for us before he completely lost his mind." Matt was pointing at the massive gun-tower nearby. There was a figure moving around at the top, and one half-way down, clearly visible through the window slots, but besides that, everything was still. The plan was unspoken, they needed guns to survive, that station had guns. There was no other option.

And then a shrill roar filled the air. The look of horror on Vivian's face was immediate. "Run!" A pause "It's a hoard!" Vivian screamed and raced forwards, Aaron swore and grabbed her hand, causing her to run even faster, with him pulling her farther ahead every time both of her feat were off the ground. Jocelyn and Matt took off after them, with Jocelyn putting forth a surprising amount of speed.

"What's a hoard?" Matt yelled up and Vivian turned her head slightly to respond, but he only caught bits and pieces of her words, like, "Tons ... infected ... Boomers ... Tank ... kill ... just run."

A thin black line rose steadily on the horizon, a low rumble with it. Three lone shapes bounded immense distances and then they were upon them.

Aaron heard the whistling in his ear and skidded to the ground, pulling Vivian with him as a Hunter sprang overhead, missing them by inches. The Hunter landed and jumped again almost immediately, Aaron pulled his legs in and launched the zombie into the air as it connected with them, uncoiling like a spring. It flailed slightly, but righted itself shortly thereafter and landed idly by on a rock. Aaron lost his grip on Vivian's hand and she disappeared from his line of vision. The Hunter jumped again and Aaron rolled out of the way, barely making the escape. He then found himself backed against a pillar of ruin. He cringed, but a jean clad leg stepped in front of him and her caramel arm swung the club simultaneously as the Hunter tensed its legs and jumped, its head exploded upon contact.

"They're getting closer, we have to get to the tower!" Vivian yelled, but a thick tongue snaked out from the steadily gaining crowd and grabbed her ankle. She yelped and hit the sand hard, face first. Aaron bounced up, sparing no words, and grabbed the club from where Vivian had dropped it, racing after them, towards the zombie onslaught.

Matt turned around as the ear-splitting shriek hit him, only to be shoved forcefully to the ground by a hunter. It balled its hands and slashed at him repeatedly as he tried to cover his face. "Help me! Help me!" he yelled, and then he was free. Jocelyn stood above him, foot still lowering from where she had dropkicked the hunter into the nearby cave. The hunter caught itself before it fell completed and leaped back out into the bleak grey sunlight. Jocelyn grabbed the bow from Matt's outstretched hand and swung it, cracking it hard against the fiend's mass, not enough to do any real damage, but the creature did stumble and fall short of its target. Matt took his arrow and stabbed it straight into the zombie's eye socket. It screamed loudly in defeat.

"We need to help Viv!" Jocelyn grabbed Matt's arm, helping him up from where he still lay on the ground.

"No, we need to get to the tower." He pulled her the other way. She followed but turned to look back at where the new struggle had ensued.

The third Hunter was toying with Aaron, he knew, jumping one way, arm outstretched to smack him on the way past, and then the other. His foot was clamped down hard on the Smoker's tongue, not allowing it to move any farther, but he had nothing sharp enough to cut it.

"Let me go Aaron! Get to the tower!" Vivian yelled, but he refused. The Hunter jerked past again and he felt his lip split open. Vivian swore and continued to search the ground. Aaron growled and held his arms out in front of him, cloths-lining the Hunter, who spun once and then fell to the ground, dazed. Aaron bent down, free from attack and held out his hand. His nails had always grown fast, a fact that his girlfriend loathed, but now would come in handy. He bent his index finger and drew a sharp line across the Smoker's tongue, not enough to break through, but enough to reveal a thick, red line of blood. It screeched loudly from where it stood, far behind, routed to the spot by pain. Vivian cried out in surprise as her fingers brushed her arrow that had been half buried in the sand and jabbed it through the recovering Hunter's chest, causing him to scream in death. She pulled it out then and jabbed it through the Smoker's tongue. Aaron stepped off and flicked through it once more, freeing Vivian from her bindings. He picked her up and sprinted as hard as he could, with her in his arms to the gun tower.

* * *

"They're coming! They're coming!" Matt yelled excitedly, holding the door open wide. He turned to look at Jocelyn, whose face turned almost immediately to horror as the meek sunlight was blocked by a grotesque, round beast. Matt turned and yelped. This creature was obese and made continuous gurgling noises. Its stomach was covered in expanding welts. It roared before spewing bile through the doorway and straight into Matt's face. He yelped and tried to wipe his eyes clean of the greenish sludge as Jocelyn retreated farther into the complex.

Jocelyn jumped into the nearest room as a more humanoid looking zombie bounded down the stairs. She suspected it was one of the two they had spotted from the ground. She looked around nervously, and found, to her joy, that she was in the supply room. She grabbed a flashlight and slipped it into her pocket and started searching the drawers for weapons. She brought out a long, glinting butcher's knife and smiled sadistically.

"Jocelyn!" Matt yelled as he backed away blindly, straight into another being. It pushed him to the ground and started clawing at his chest. He managed to punch it in the face and knock it away, but before he could rise, the balloon creature had spewed more vomit onto his person. He could feel it wasting him away.

"Hold on!" Jocelyn yelled as she re-entered the room, throwing her butcher's knife from where she stood at the vomiting beast. It collided with his stomach and she screamed as it exploded, sending a final wave of throw-up across the room, missing her completely as she ducked back out. Matt sat up, but the zombie was on him again, he swung his fists, hitting it in the head, conveniently knocking it into a pipe and busting it's head open.

"A Boomer. And a common infected." Vivian labelled as Aaron dropped her to the ground. He turned and slammed the door shut.

"How much time do we have?" he asked, adrenaline pumping through his veins.

"Plenty, as long as a tank doesn't come. That door is iron. But the Boomer attacked here, so this is where they'll be drawn to." Vivian said. But she bit her lip. "The Boomer, it was outside?"

"Yup, then it came inside and did this." Matt gestured around as Jocelyn stepped awkwardly back into the room, daintily reaching down and picking up her blood-soaked butcher's knife.

"But we saw two things in here," she continued. Jocelyn nodded. "Oh no."

"What?"

"Only one thing came down after the Boomer got you?" She directed the question at Matt.

"Mhmm, and then I killed it."

"Hardly," Aaron teased.

"There's a witch in the building."

"Aw, hell," Aaron whined. "A witch?"

"What?"

"A witch is the strongest zombie I know of. We've got to be careful," Vivian advised and the other's nodded.

"But first things first. We need to find the weaponry," Aaron said. "Priorities for us are backpacks, first aid kits, guns, ammo, flashlights, pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails. Remember, just because we only saw two doesn't mean that there were only two. Anything that was blocked by a heavy door could not have gotten to the Boomer bile."

"Yeah, cause they've got Molotov cocktails in a guard tower," Vivian said dryly. Aaron stuck out his tongue at her and she rolled her eyes. A steady pounding started against the door and Aaron jumped away from it.

"Whatever, I think we should split up, from what I can tell, there are four levels. There are four of us. There's one witch. Avoid any weird sounds, if she's here, she's probably wandering around because we managed to spot her through the window. I'm guessing that any rooms in here connect to the main stairwell room," Aaron dictated. "I'll check out the actual guard tower part, the top floor. Viv, you stay down here and explore. Matt, the second floor. JL, the third floor. Let's go." He took off, jumping up the iron staircase two at a time. The others stared at one another.

"Who made him king?" Vivian joked but started towards the adjoining room. Jocelyn and Matt took off up the stairs, going at a much slower pace.

* * *

Aaron reached the top floor fairly quickly, but was panting anyways. The room was wide and had only two adjoining rooms. He first scoured the room he was in. There was a large, black gun lying discarded at the foot of a window where the guard on duty had no doubt shot at them. He picked it up testily, and held it firmly in his hands. The assault rifle was light in his arms and he held it to his eye testing it, He glanced to the side as a steady croaking sound filled the room.

* * *

Jocelyn tightened her hold on the butcher knife as she entered the third floor lobby. There were no windows, but the light had been left on by the now-un-dead-then-alive soldier that now lay in two parts, two floors below. There was only one room leading off from the lobby, but it looked big. She pushed the door open and a steady sobbing noise filled the room. "Hello?" She asked tentatively, reaching over for the light switch. She flipped it once, but the light was burnt out or broken. She reached for the flashlight in her pocket, aimed into the darkness and turned it on.

* * *

Matt closed the door behind him as he entered the infirmary. The first room on the second level had been filled with pre-packaged or canned foods, they could be useful, but they had nothing to carry them in. Matt spotted first aid kits in a glass case in the far corner and walked over to it. Unbeknown to Matt, another creature was crawling across the floor towards him. The creature's long arms and massive claws leading its smaller lower half silently. Its torn jaw smiling menacingly. Its curved spine, curving even more as it prepared to jump.

* * *

Vivian took the metal chair she had found and wedged it against the door handle, she hadn't heard the cry of the tank yet, but that didn't mean it wasn't out there, waiting, watching. She entered the first of four rooms on the bottom level, and found herself wedged into an over-stuffed walk-in closet. She walked awkwardly to the far end and grabbed four army fatigue backpacks from a shelf, weaving between over-stuffed winter jackets and overturned war-style veterans boots. She shouldered a pack and threw the others' near the staircase before moving off into the second room. She didn't notice the blood seeping out from beneath the fourth doorway.

* * *

_Okay, so there you have it, you've met Aaron, Vivian, Jocelyn, Matt, Daphne, Jasper and Wise Woman Forsyth. I don't want to give anything away, but I will say that just because you think somebody doesn't have any more to do with the story, doesn't mean they don't. Please review, I'll update after my exam tomorrow. Wish me luck! It's Sciences Humaines :( Sucky._


	2. OhCanada?

Okay, so here we go, the second installment of the bonds of blood, new character inrtoduction time? Maybe? Stay tuned! R&R! The Disclaimer still applies! Exam went well, pretty sure I aced it! Okay, read!

* * *

The silhouette behind the window was clear. Aaron backed away nervously, but held the thick, dark gun at the ready, his finger on the trigger. The Hunter drew its claws along the glass and Aaron raised the gun to his eye once more. The window burst inwards and the Hunter lurched inside, followed by another, and another. The three of them stared Aaron down and he gasped before opening fire. The gun kicked and hit him in the jaw, but he continuously held on to the trigger, spraying bullets on his three foes. One fell to his blasts, but the others both dove into the adjoining room. Feeling slightly more confident Aaron followed.

* * *

Jocelyn's flashlight caught the blonde-brown hair full on. "Daphne?" Jocelyn gasped tearing up slightly. But then she turned her head. It was the same girl, the same Daphne they loved on the outside, though her skin was purple-grey and her eyes yellow. Her nails were extremely long and unbelievably sharp. But there was no joy in Daphne, no feeling, no emotions. Nothing but pure, blood-lust and anger at having been disturbed.

"You're the witch?" Jocelyn shrieked and ran for the door. Daphne raced towards her from across the room, slamming it closed before she could escape. "Please," Jocelyn whispered as the new Daphne got closer. Her flashlight fell to the floor, illuminating nothing but Jocelyn's shivering legs, and Daphne's, now scrawny, bony ones.

* * *

It was the slight reflection in the glass that saved Matt's life. He saw the creature as it was in mid-air. He dove to the side and the zombie crashed hard into the case, which shattered and sprayed out across the infirmary floor. Matt took his bow and arrow from his back and brought it up to his eyes. He shot once, but missed, the arrow sliding under the door, out into the second floor lobby. The creature turned and shrieked at him once again, no doubt the reincarnation of the previous medic. It lurched at him and he bent down, scooping up a shard of glass from the floor and holding it out in front of himself like a knife.

* * *

Vivian exited the second room, sighing. In it had been a desk and several filing cabinets: nothing to be of any use in a zombie apocalypse. The third room, Vivian hoped, would be more useful. She entered to find the same storage room that Jocelyn had rushed into earlier. She rummaged through drawers until she found three knives, two hammers, four flashlights, countless packs of extra batteries as well as a large flame thrower. She took everything, shoving it into her backpack. Then she found a large medicine cabinet and emptied it too. Aaron would probably know what it was good for, if not him than Jocelyn. She left the room then, quite content with her finds, but her smile of pride was wiped clean when her foot came down into a puddle of blood. She turned in horror as the floor vibrated and the door burst off of its hinges.

* * *

"I'm not afraid of you." Aaron said, his voice shaking as he said it, betraying his obvious fear. He kicked the door in and started shooting blindly into the room. There was a yelp and he knew he had hit one of them. Satisfied he reached in and turned on the light. There before him, lay the dead carcass of a Hunter, bleeding out from where it had fallen to the floor, mid-jump, and soaking the paws of the nearby dog. Aaron gasped at the sight, but movement from the other side of the room caught his eye. The final Hunter leapt at him and knocked him to the ground. He screamed for help, knowing that he was incapacitated, there was nothing he could do now that he had been knocked down. He would die.

* * *

Daphne reached out a long talon and stroked the side of Jocelyn's face. She backed away shakily, but Daphne simply reached out and slashed her across the mouth. Jocelyn gasped and clutched at the free flowing blood, but soon became dizzy. She fell to her knees as more blood left her body. Daphne cut her arm deep and then her leg and Jillian's face began to lose colour. With a final shutter, Jocelyn fainted, her torso hitting the floor hard. Daphne knelt to kill her, but stopped.

"_When you look me in the eyes. And tell me that you loved me. Everything's all right. When you're right here by my side._" Jocelyn's iPod had triggered upon collision with the ground. The words brought sense into Daphne. For the first time since she had turned, over an hour ago, she felt humanity as her favourite band and teenage crush continued singing. Looking down, she recognized the girl, bleeding at her bird-like feet, and knew that she had become a monster. She fled into the hallway and down the stairs until she had taken solace in the downstairs closet, not pausing to look at the fight that was about to commence.

* * *

The hunchbacked, monkey like zombie in front of Matt was unfazed by the appearance of a second weapon. It jumped at him again and Matt felt the glass blade impale itself inside of the creature. The zombie died then, again, but the momentum and instincts of the creature's body knocked Matt to the ground. Wrapping around him in a last ditch effort to kill. Matt hit the ground hard, and blacked out.

* * *

Vivian heard the closet door close, but she couldn't turn around to look, for as soon as she had taken in the sight at the fourth doorway, the iron door to the outside broke down and in barged a second beast. It seemed to be alone. Vivian stood, solitary, and unarmed against two enormous fiends. A Tank, she knew, had just arrived. It was enormous and hulk-like, with pale, pink, rocky skin that was thick all over, like an elephant's. Its upper body and arms severely outsized and outweighed its lower body and the veins in his muscles were extremely noticeable under the translucent skin. The monster that had been inside was similar. One arm of the Charger appeared to still be human, but the other was massive and wider than the average television. Its body was like a fat rectangle from feet to head, all seven feat of it. Its head was like that of an ogre, with few teeth and gaping eyes. She peered past it into the room in which lay three dead and bleeding common infected. No. Two were common infected. One had been a human, an immunized human.

"Seriously?" Vivian whined. "A Tank and a Charger at the same time!" She felt tears stinging her eyes. This would probably be the end for her. She had heard bullets ring out from somewhere far away, probably Aaron. She had heard Jocelyn scream about the witch. She had heard glass shatter nearby. She was alone. And that made her angry. "Look, you fuckers, I will kill at least one of you before I die." She reached into her backpack and grabbed the hammer that was there, bringing it out angrily.

The Charger lurched at Viivian, surprisingly fast with so much bulk to carry. She swung the hammer, hitting it dead on in its titanic fist. A bone cracked and it began to bleed. The Tank roared and charged at her, swinging and hitting her clear across the room. She took her hammer as the Tank lunged at her again and threw it with surprising accuracy at its head. It stopped dazed and Vivian took the opportunity to jumped for her backpack.

She grabbed it, just as the Charger grabbed her by the ankles. It started swinging her around and she had to fight against gravity to keep her hands searching. The blade sliced her thumb: that was how she found it. The Charger continued to swing her, but she used its own momentum against it, curling into a ball so that her gravity was less than what it was accustomed to throwing, it became off balance and she jabbed the knife far into its thin arm. The arm fell off and shrivelled up on the floor, taking the knife with it.

With its big arm, the Charger swung Vivian, still in ball form, towards the Tank, who wound up and punched her straight into the closet. Her vision swam before her eyes as she tried to sit up, only to make eye-contact with the witch.

* * *

Aaron could feel his health draining from him and struggled with all his might, but it was no use, he was going to die here. "Woof!" The dog barked and bounded out of the room, tackling the Hunter to the ground and ripping out its throat. Aaron lay there for seconds, but felt relief.

"Thank you!" He cooed and squeezed the dog tightly around its scruffy neck. The dog held up a paw where a bullet had grazed him. Aaron nodded and peaked into the only other room on his floor. It was a computer room and wouldn't be equipped with medicinal needs. Instead he went down to the second floor, the dog trotting at his heels. "Who's a good boy? Saving my life, even though I shot you? Yes, yes that's you!"

* * *

Vivian heard the dog bark from her position in the closet and she heard Aaron speak, the sound carrying well in the hallways. Unfortunately, so did the Tank. It stumbled forwards and smashed into the door to the staircase above, locking it in place, probably not on purpose, it's girth was just too large to fit through the door itself. The witch stared at her, she had startled it, but it made no attempt to move towards or hurt her, in fact, it seemed to be trying to do just the opposite. Just trying to stay out of the way.

The Charger barged into the closet and started pounding around with its gigantic hand, it slapped Vivian once across the face and she heard a tooth chip, but got up. She took a running dive and managed to slide between the Charger's legs and out into the lobby once again. She slid right into the legs of the Tank and swore, reaching out and grabbing her knife, just before the Tank crushed her bones into powder, raising it and pointing it straight up, impaling one arm of the oafish zombie.

It squealed and swung its arms around, both trying to free the knife, and to smack Vivian. The knife did come loose, speeding straight to the doorway where the Charger was. It struck its face, killing it instantly.

* * *

Aaron peaked into the only doorway in the third level. It was a bedroom; there were four beds in total, two on each side and a window that showed the moon. The clouds had left, and Aaron could see, illuminated on the floor ... a freely bleeding Jocelyn. He yelled for help and ran to her, discarding his gun by the door. He picked her up, steadying her and guided her from the room and down the stairs. There was no hospital equipment on this floor either.

* * *

Vivian rolled _Charlie's Angel's_ style away from where the Tank was smashing, breaking up pieces of floor on ever jab. Her backpack had been thrown to the other side of the now locked door sometime earlier, leaving her weapon-less. Save for the two weapons she had already used. The hammer was imbedded, tail end first in the Tank's head still, but it didn't seem to notice. The knife was inside of the Charger.

The Tank picked up a piece of earth and threw it at her, she ran from it, avoiding it. At this point, the Tank was angry and seeing red. It body checked Vivian into and through a wall, into the room that the Charger had vacated. It appeared to have been a mess hall type room. There were more dead bodies than had been hidden before, two common infected behind the counter, with a third laid out against the far wall. All dead. Vivian spotted a gas stove behind the counter and an idea sparked.

She sprang past her enemy and found what she was looking for. It had fallen out of the backpack mid-fight and lay abandoned in the far corner of the room. The flamethrower.

* * *

Upon entering the second of two rooms on the second floor, Aaron spotted Matt huddled in a ball on the ground. "Alright, so splitting up was a bad idea!" Aaron said to Jocelyn, who of course, couldn't hear him. He leaned her on a hospital bed and walked over to Matt, rolling him over. He pulled back upon sight of the creature, but regained his composure and managed to unlink the dead zombie's fingers, freeing Matt. He then grabbed one of the six kits in the shattered glass container and started working on Jocelyn.

Matt woke up halfway through the amateur surgery.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. What happened to you?"

"You first. I mean, dog?"

"Where's Viv?"

"Not here."

There was an explosion from downstairs.

"I can't leave Jocelyn to die. Go save my girlfriend," Aaron begged. Matt nodded and rose to his feet.

"Unnecessary." Vivian smiled cockily from the entrance, waving a hammer to and fro. "Guess who just fought a Tank, Charger and Witch, and then won. I did!" She started victory dancing in the doorway. "The door was jammed though, so I had to hammer the hinges off," she explained.

"You fought all those at the same time and killed them?" Aaron asked in disbelief. Jocelyn groaned groggily and he punched a fist in the air. "Success! She lives!"

"Well, the Witch didn't actually attack me," she explained. She looked puzzled by this fact.

"So you didn't startle it?"

"No, I startled it."

"Daphne," Jocelyn said, sitting up. Aaron tried to lay her down, but she pushed him off. "Daphne is the Witch." There was silence, then Aaron groaned and sat down next to her.

"Why didn't she attack me?" Vivian cocked her head to the side.

"Why didn't she kill me?" Jocelyn countered.

"Why didn't she come after us once she had knocked you down?" Matt beckoned from Aaron to himself.

"You don't think she has retained her humanity do you?"

"Is it even possible?" Jocelyn asked.

"I never saw it in the game."

"But why would anything with any humanity, coexist with inhumane beings?" Aaron said, slightly condescendingly. "If the game was a reflection of reality, then the humane zombies wouldn't have chilled with the other ones, or attacked."

"Maybe she recognized Jocelyn," Matt propositioned.

"Yeah, I mean, my flashlight did fall to the ground, so she'd only have been able to see my face when I fainted."

"No, zombies can see in the dark," Vivian said. "But that just reminded me, the flashlight, I found some supplies." She left the room then, heading down the stairs slowly. The door to the first floor lobby was exactly where she had left it on the floor of the first level. Her backpack was on her side of it and she grabbed it.

"Where did they go?" Vivian asked Jocelyn as she re-entered the near empty infirmary.

"Aaron said he'd found guns," she said absently. "They went to get them." She sat up, wincing, and poked the nearby creature with her toe.

"A Jockey," Vivian labelled.

"Jesus! How many types of Zombie are there?"

"Umm ..." Vivian held up her fingers and began to count. "Hunter, Smoker, Witch, Tank, Charger, Jockey, Boomer, Spitter, then the common infected." She nodded her head as she counted her outstretched digits. "Nine."

"What about that clown thing you told me about?" Aaron asked, re-entering the room.

"Okay, ten, but that's just in the circus levels."

"This isn't a game, there are no levels."

"Yeah, yeah. What'cha get?" she asked.

He swung his Hunter Rifle over his shoulder and shot once into the dead zombie's head. "Cool, huh? Assault Rifle." He seemed proud of knowing what it was, let alone being able to aim and shoot. He had taken the shoelaces from a pair of army boots he had found and used them to make a sling for the gun. "I got you –" he said, reaching around into his back pockets. He brought out two shining silver pistols and tossed them to her, smiling.

"Wachow!" Vivian caught them and struck a pose. "Do a barrel role!" She got down on the ground and proceeded to roll awkwardly to the side. Jocelyn laughed.

"Fail. What do I get?" Jocelyn asked.

"I don't know ..." Aaron frowned. Matt walked in carrying two more guns. "Matt got the other two."

"Pick one JL, shotgun or uzi?"

"Shotgun, please." Jocelyn smiled an angelic smile and then formed a sling out of gauze, using it to hold up her large weapon. Matt held the remaining weapon.

"Supply check," Aaron demanded. "Backpacks?"

"Check." Vivian tossed three of them into the middle of the room and un-zippered her own.

"Flashlights?"

"Check." Vivian passed them into the pile.

"First aid kits?"

"Check." Jocelyn took all of the remaining ones and tossed them in too.

"Canned food?"

"Check." Matt poured out an army fatigue duffle bags worth of canned goods.

"You could've kept those in the bag, but whatever." Aaron rolled his eyes. "Umm, what else did I say we needed?"

"Weapons and ammunition," Matt supplied.

"Thank you. Weapons and –"

"Check, obviously." Vivian gestured to the two pistols in her arms.

"All right." He smiled. A shrill shrieking then filled the air. His smile faltered. "It's a hoard, hold them off. Cooper, come!" Aaron ran from the room and up the stairs, the dog following.

"Where's he going?" Vivian asked. The others shrugged, and then the first wave of infected charged up the stairs. Jocelyn exited into the hallway and cocked her gun, before setting it off right in the face of five approaching common infected. Vivian followed, both arms held high, she backed up the stairs so as to shoot over Jocelyn's head. Instinctively, Jocelyn crouched down to shoot. Matt stood in the doorway and continued shooting.

"Hah! We're totally winning!" Matt yelled as his gun laid down another wave of zombies. They could only go three at a time up the stairs and so, were scrambling over one another in an attempt to catch them. A long tongue reached out and dragged him swiftly down the stairs, through the throngs of zombies. Jocelyn and Vivian abandoned their perches to chase after him, firing blindly into the mob.

Matt's head hit the stair after stair as the smoker dragged him down the flight, then concrete at the bottom. He could feel the zombies pressing in around him, clawing at him and it hurt. He pulled a single pistol from his back pocket and began firing feebly around him.

Jocelyn pumped again and shot down a fifth row of zombies, catching even more of them now that they were on a flat pane.

Vivian knelt on the stairs in a Tomb Raider position and nodded to her. "Save Matt, I'll hold them back," she commanded and Jocelyn charged through, swinging her gun to knock them down and then shooting them point blank. She could just see Matt's foot disappear into the cafeteria before a hulking Tank blocked her view. She shot and cocked the gun repeatedly, and she could hear Vivian's bullets whizzing past her ears, much too close for comfort. The Tank raised his arms to strike, the bullets having little to no affect on him, but stopped and dropped dead. A Witch stood behind him.

"Daphne!" Jocelyn yelled as the zombies formed a barrier between her and Vivian. For a moment, she forgot to shoot, and then she was on the ground, a Hunter staring down at her. Witch-Daphne wasted no time in tackling and ripping out the throat of the attacking fiend and then barring her teeth at the others.

The Witch was the enemy now, to the zombies, and they knew it. They barged forwards attempting to slay her, just as they would a human, but she backhanded them repeatedly, if not knocking their heads off than knocking them out. Jocelyn rushed into the cafeteria where Matt's body had stopped moving. It lay in the middle of a pile of slow acting acid spewed up from a female-looking zombie that looked almost pregnant.

"Let me guess, Spitter?" Jocelyn cocked the gun and shot the beast. It fell back dead immediately.

* * *

Aaron tapped furiously at the keyboard of the fourth floor communications lab main computer interface. Recently he'd gotten pretty good at hacking. He started twisting frequencies on the landline radio.

"Hello? Hello, is anybody out there?" a panicked voice from a familiar frequency demanded.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hello! This is Sarah Murdock, I live in –"

"Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada." Aaron whispered into the receiver.

She paused. "Aaron Forrest?"

"It's me Sarah." he said, tears hot at the corners of his eyes. He wouldn't cry, he hadn't cried for years, but the sound of a familiar voice, the thought that somewhere out there, was life, that they weren't alone in the world, it was powerful.

"Aaron! Oh, God! Are you okay? Where are you?"

"I'm in a guard tower in Mexico or somewhere like that, me, Jocelyn, Vivian and Matt are safe. Daphne is a Witch or something."

"You're in Mexico?"

"Yeah, the school trip to the Mayan ruins, remember?"

"Yes, I remember. Jocelyn's safe?"

"She's fine." Aaron smiled. "We're all fine. And I found a dog!" He bent down and scratched the top of Cooper's head. The black lab smiled up at him, tongue lolling out.

"You would." There was humour in her voice. "How are all of you immune? I mean, I'm the only kid in my school who didn't go all un-dead all of a sudden."

"A scientist slash medicine woman gave us an antidote, minutes before it happened. Daphne didn't get it."

"Put JL on, I need to hear her voice."

"Err ..."

"What?"

"She's downstairs fighting a hoard with Viv and Matt."

"Hoard?"

"Oh, there's slang too, hoard is a huge group of zombies that attack all at once in a blitzkrieg. The zombies have names too. Boomers, Tanks, Witches, Chargers, Spitters, Hunters –"

"Hold on. I think somebody else is alive, I hear somebody crying."

"Sarah! No! It's the Witch!" he screamed into the receiver.

Sarah screamed on the other end and her radio clattered to the ground. Aaron sat and held tightly to Cooper's neck until he could fully comprehend what had happened. "She isn't dead. Sarah. Can't. Be. Dead." He paused and breathed deeply. "What do you think about heading back to Canada, boy?" He scratched the dog's head once more before turning more dials.

"Hello, are you infected?"

"Obviously not, I'm a teenage boy, but I need a plane, here, ASAP."

"We're on our way."

* * *

Vivian shot the last zombie in the back of the end, creating a clean hole directly through one side and out the other. It collapsed onto the ground and she dramatically blew against the tip of her pistol.

Jocelyn took out a care package and wrapped Matt firmly up, his wounds mostly surface cuts, but one huge gash where the Hunter's tongue had tightened too much. He was conscious, but barely.

"How's he doing?" Vivian asked, coming up behind her.

"Not too bad, not too good either." She had dragged him out of the poison and given him water from a bottle and he seemed to be recovering quickly.

"Guess who I just talked to," Aaron said proudly, coming down the stairs.

"Who? The dog?"

"His name is Cooper, and yes. But also –" he paused for dramatic effect. "Sarah!"

"Sarah! My Sarah? Murdock? My cousin?" Jocelyn jumped at him, holding him tightly by the black polo's collar.

"Yes that one, she's not infected, but we do have to get to her, she doesn't know that a Witch isn't a human. She was attacked before she went offline."

Jocelyn's heart dropped. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine." He comforted her gently, but averted his eyes. Vivian saw, she saw the uncertainty; it brought forth a pang of worry in her chest.

"We have to get to her! We can go and hi-jack a plane!" she rambled on, but Aaron simply held her close.

"A plane will be here in a half-hour, we need to stock up on anything we can pilfer from this place and then just last."

"This time," Matt groaned, sitting up, "let's not split up."

Aaron rolled his eyes.

An hour later, the four of them stood, guns at the ready, on the desert sand in front of the guard tower. A steady thumping of rotary blades descending upon them. The ladder fell from the sky and Matt started to climb, then Jocelyn, who lowered the pulley system in which Aaron and Vivian strapped Cooper, their bags and a sheet covered Daphne.

Jocelyn and Matt started raising it and Vivian followed. Aaron stepped in last and slammed the door.

"Where to?" the pilot asked. He had short blonde hair and a heavy southern accent.

"Canada, and hurry."

* * *

"We survived Belize." Aaron laughed. "And you know what, those ruins weren't even the real ruins! I remember now, the Mayan pyramids and ruins were always in a jungle not a desert."

"We're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and you're concerned about faked tourism." Vivian stared at him dumbfounded.

"It's Aaron, what did you expect," Matt said.

"I still can't believe I successfully used a gun." Jocelyn awkwardly fingered the trigger of her shotgun.

The pilot glanced back uneasily. "You best put the safety on that there shooter," he said.

Jocelyn picked the gun up and started twisting it this way and that, searching for a button or lever marked safety. The gun wound up pointing straight at the pilot and his eyes widened. "Uh, never mind, perhaps it'd be best for y'all to just set the weapons on the floor … pointing that'a'way." He gestured to the back of the helicopter.

Cooper, the seemingly adopted black lab, bounded cheerfully up, resting his head in Matt's lap. He scratched him behind the ear softly and Cooper panted in ecstasy.

"So, your theory is that them Mayan's calculated that science'd destroy the world, and it ain't spiritual er nuttin'?"

"That's our theory, yes," Jocelyn said.

"I guess it done kinda make sense. But how would they know what th' outcome'd be?"

"Huh?" Vivian turned to him, the conversation catching her interest suddenly.

"Well, you done said that they made a gosh darn video game 'bout this. Then you said that them there zombies were the same in real life. How'd them Mayans predict that?"

"I … I don't know," Vivian admitted, frowning.

"And another thang, you read on th' Internet that the Mayans predicted this whole thing, down to the minute, right?"

"Mhmm." Vivian frowned more, she was beginning to understand the flaws in her theory, the others were listening raptly.

"How'd they do that, if back in that day, they didn't even have science?"

"Uhh …"

"And why wouldn't that there paper get published earlier on, right? And not just, like, conveniently right before this done appoca … appaco …"

"Apocalypse?" Aaron offered.

"Yeah, that thing. Wouldn't people publish it like, two years ago, when the whole, world endin' in twenty-twelve conspiracy theory was circling?"

"Yeah …" Vivian sighed. Her entire theory, all of the facts that it had been built upon, were flawed, seriously flawed.

"Well, what's your theory?" Matt asked him.

"Ma theory, is that –" But then a Hunter jumped through the window as they passed by a tall building, slamming into the pilot and pushing him out and through the opposite door.

"Holy shit!" Aaron yelled and jumped from the back, landing in the pilot's chair. He pulled the door closed and then pulled back on the spiralling controls. The plane pulled up out of its nose dive, but the flight was shaky.

"Victoria …" Jocelyn looked out the window. The buildings they were passing were lined with Hunter after Hunter.

"I see them …" Vivian gulped and drew her pistols from where she had them stuffed into her back pockets, she had completely ignored the pilot's request to drop their weapons.

"I can't fight, I have to keep us up!" Aaron yelled, straining to keep the plane level, it shook minimally and soon he had found his groove. The pilot had entered the co-ordinates and the helicopter was new-age enough to run by itself, but it needed somebody to steer away from wind currents and onto tarmacs or, in this case, to avoid buildings.

"We got this," Matt said to Jocelyn, who's weapon was only short distance.

There was a single scream as warning before the first Hunter broke through the side windows, Matt shot it in the face and Jocelyn dove into the back, hiding beneath the same tarp that covered the final member of their party: the zombie-fied Daphne.

Vivian shot out her window and started firing, the sound of the spinning propellers was deafening and the wind only added to the cacophony.

Two Hunters dislodged and bounded into the air. Vivian shot one in the head, the other on the shoulder. The second one twisted in mid-air, but still crashed through her door.

Matt shot it off of her and she got back up, pushing its body out the now ajar door.

Matt opened fire on a row of zombies that were lined, poised to jump. All five of them leaped before any had died, but two fell in mid-air to his bullet spray. Vivian shot too, hitting one in the foot, it, also, twisted in mid-air, but as the final two collided with the helicopter. Aaron accidentally lost control of the machine, lowering their height by mere inches. The last Hunter was decapitated by the rotary blades, spraying a slight splash of blood against the windshield.

Daphne reached out a talon and swiftly sliced the closest Hunter from where she lay and Vivian performed a close-range head-shot to the other. More Hunter's jumped, approximately half of them falling to the guns before they even reached the chopper, the other half splicing themselves, or misjudging the gap and free-falling to the ground below.

The Hunters that remained, approximately twenty, knew that they were outmatched, but then came the re-enforcements.

The Smokers busted out top story windows, their tongues ripping forwards and easily slipping into the air vehicle. Cooper yelped helplessly as he was dragged out of the helicopter and into mid-air. Aaron screamed for him and Daphne darted out from beneath the tarp, skydiving out into the air and hooking her bird-like feet against the skids in order to grab the black lab in the crook of her arms before he could fall to his death. Matt shot the tongue off of the Smoker, causing it to explode where it stood. Daphne literally threw Cooper back into the chopper with more force than intended and the canine blacked out upon hitting the opposite wall.

"Cooper!" Jocelyn grabbed his paw and dragged him to the back of the vehicle, as close to the tail boom as she could get him. She covered him with their bags and the tarp to protect him from farther harm.

"Something is on top of us." Aaron yelled back and Vivian turned her attention, all guns to the ceiling. She shot through it and a Hunter lost its balance and crumpled to the ground below.

Three tongues flew towards them simultaneously, Aaron gasped as one hooked his right arm. Jocelyn reached for a backpack, but was pulled back by a second tongue around her ankle before she could get it and Daphne, still hanging from the skids, screeched and sliced open the third.

Aaron was pulled from the chopper immediately, but he held on with his left arm, to the arm rest of the pilot seat. Vivian tried to shoot the tongue away, but Aaron was forced to let go and fell out of the helicopter, barely managing to hook his thumb and forefinger around the sling of his Assault Rifle. Daphne was infuriated to find the tongue out of reach and Aaron felt his breath leave him as he began to free-fall.

Daphne coiled up and then sprang outwards, letting go of the vehicle and tackling into Aaron, in mid-air. She cut the tongue mid-flight and then curled into a protective ball around him before they smashed through the plate-glass window of a nearby conference room.

Matt managed to wedge himself into the pilot seat, but Jocelyn was dragged out of the cabin. Vivian shot the tongue and Jocelyn managed to grab onto the landing skids rather than falling to her death. The ground rushed up to meet them, but Matt pulled them out of the nose-dive.

Two of the backpacks slid out of the ajar door as a Hunter landed on the tail boom. It started to claw against it and a crackling could be heard as the automatic engine ignited and then failed. A Smoker reached up and pulled at Jocelyn's leg, but she wouldn't let go, despite the searing pain, thus, lowering the altitude of the already failing chopper.

"We're going to crash!" Matt yelled and the chopper did indeed begin to spiral.

Cooper and the remaining bags slid out of the door, landing hard on the rooftop of a hotel, below a flash of blonde hair was all that he saw before something else caught his attention. The zombies began to back off, and then the roar of a tank filled the air. It picked up a car, below them and threw it, hard, at the helicopter. It went up in flame with Matt, Jocelyn and Vivian still inside, before crashing hard into the streets below. Jillian dropped from the skids right before impact, hitting the ground and curling into a ball, but she couldn't protect herself from the resulting flying debris. Matt and Vivian were enveloped inside of the twisting metal.

A broken, cracking female voice came over the GPS. "You-u-u ha-have reached you have re-reached your desti-tina-destination your destination. Welcome to come to welcome to Cana-Cana-Cana." It then failed.

* * *

Okay, so this chapter wasn't very long, I'll give you that, but I felt that the ending was JUST right, and I didn't want to edit out anything. My last exam before summer break is tomorrow, so be sure to wish me luck and whatnot in your reviews. Tell me what you think of the characters. Who is your favourite? Who pisses you off? R&R


	3. Here Comes The Canadian Cavalry!

Hey dudes and dudettes, welcome to the third (And personally best) chapter of Left 4 Dead. Brace yourself for some surprise character death in this chapter, but who will it be? Aaron? Daphne? Jocelyn? Vivian? Matt? A new character? Plenty of those in this chapter, new characters that is, read on my friends! Read on!

Disclaimer; Me no owner Left 4 Deado! ME owner charterisinos!

* * *

"I'm Kyle, Simons." He reached out his hand to her as she awoke, having fallen asleep after the Witch attack.

"Hello Kyle Simons, thank God for you. My name is Sarah." Sarah reached up a shaking hand and he grabbed it, heaving her to her feet. "What was that thing?"

"A Witch. Don't you play videogames?"

"Well, yeah, but this can't be real."

"It's real. My family is dead …" He paused.

"I'm sorry …" Sarah whispered as they stood awkwardly in the middle-level communications lab at the local community college. "If it helps, I think mine are too."

"It doesn't." Kyle smiled. "It helps that I'm not all alone anymore though." Kyle smiled.

"Yeah." Sarah smiled and looked awkwardly at the dead zombie. "How did you kill it? I thought Witches were like, invincible."

"Duh, I have a sniper rifle." He waved the massive gun around. "It's pretty powerful, and I managed to get a good three shots in before it actually got to you," he explained.

"And then when it broke all this equipment …"

"I shot out the computer screen, catching it on fire, and then I emptied like, six shots into her face. Then she died. Finally." He smiled again, weakly.

"Well, thanks for saving me."

"No problem."

"Why were you here anyways?" Sarah asked, her interest piqued. Sarah had long, light brown, almost caramel coloured hair that fell over her right eye, like her cousin. She had a small, thin, heart shaped face and a wide smile. Her eyes were usually laughing due to her tendency for unorthodox behaviour (i.e. cat whiskers or bizarre nicknames) that had nothing to do with the person in question. She was wearing a black tank-top and jeans with a necklace dangling from her neck.

"Same reason you were," Kyle explained. He had thick blonde hair that flipped out around the edges and white skin with light blue-green eyes. He sported a pair of tight blue skinny jeans and an orange t-shirt.

"Nice pants." Sarah giggled, going off topic.

"You're just jealous." Kyle grinned too, a real grin.

"I totally am." She beamed up at him and he rolled his eyes.

"Anyways, I'm here because I was looking for survivors. Guess what, I found one!" He laughed.

"You're kidding? Where?" She looked around excitedly, eventually turning in a full circle, she paused as if considering something, and then spun in four more circles. Kyle stared at her.

"You're weird…"

"Yeah and ...?"

"I like you!" He laughed. "You're really unlike most people I know. I mean, most of them aren't above doing weird things, but it's usually just to get attention, none of them are the type of people to just, run around in circles or … are those cat whiskers?"

Sarah beamed. "Yes, yes they are." She stroked her upper lip dramatically. "I was bored with my friend Erica before the zombie attack, so I drew them on with eyeliner. She was a pirate."

"Wow …" Kyle looked down, suddenly sad. "Erica was my girlfriend's name, before this. I don't know if she's alive or not. I figured I'd keep walking up the road, checking any big buildings for non-infected, you know? Maybe she's alive in one, just, hiding."

"I'm sorry … again. I know my Erica won't be." Sarah looked down at the ground. "She got attacked by a big group of them, and all I could do was sit in the closet and watch, until she turned into one of them. She kept screaming for help, and all I could do was cry."

"Don't cry now," Kyle said softly, but she did. He pulled her in tightly and she sobbed into his brightly coloured shirt until all of her tears were spent. She looked up at him and he held back a laugh. Her cat whiskers made of eyeliner had smudged and leaked, leaving trails of black down her skin towards her chin, giving her a beard. "I'm here, and I'm not going to die on you. Or un-die." he promised. Internally he hoped he could keep his promise.

"Promise? Kyle?"

"Promise. Sarah."

"Wait … Kyle Simons … why do you sound familiar to me?"

"Umm … I don't know. You don't sound at all familiar to me." He laughed.

"I remember, you're that guy she likes! Jocelyn was telling me about you, and about how you-don't-know-who had been on Aaron's Facebook and Honesty Boxed you, then started messaging you about who she was and stuff."

"Wait, so the girl is Jocelyn?"

"I'm not allowed to say, she literally told me to call her you-don't-know-who if anybody asked. I suppose you qualify as anybody."

"Come on! Everybody else is dead and you can't tell me who liked me?"

"Everybody else isn't dead!" Sarah said indignantly, pulling away from Kyle and then bending down to look at the smashed radio. "Remember that school trip to Belize?"

"Yeah?"

"My cousin was on it; Jocelyn. Herself, Vivian and Aaron are all still alive out there. They have a dog."

"What? How did they survive?" Kyle sat down on a spin chair that no longer spun.

"Some scientist slash medicine woman gave them a cure, there's another guy with them too, but I forget his name."

"A cure?"

"Well, an immunization."

"Oh … so somebody knew that this was coming?"

"What makes you think that?" Sarah raised an eyebrow and sat down opposite him.

"Come on, if somebody knew to make an immunization, they obviously knew that this virus was coming. Nobody can make a vaccine to counter-act the disease, if they don't even know what it is."

"Wow …"

"What?'

"I never put that together."

"Yeah, well, you were being attacked so …" Kyle reasoned.

Sarah nodded. "Good point." Sarah paused. "Why aren't we infected?"

"We're probably naturally immune. Chances are, one in every two hundred people or so didn't become a zombie, but they can probably still be killed. I mean, hello, have you seen some of those things?"

"Yes. Closet. Remember?"

"Oh, right. Sorry."

"So you're saying that there's around …" Sarah did a quick mental calculation. "Sixty people left alive in Truro?"

"Where'd that number come from?"

"Truro has around 12, 000 people, if one in every two hundred are immune, that's sixty people. Granted, me, you, and my cousin's group make that number closer to 54."

"I guess, but that's assuming none of those fifty four died, and with like, 11, 400 zombies out there, I'd say there aren't too many people still alive. Nobody too old or too young or too sick or too weak. So like, fourteen other people still alive, would be my guess."

"We're doing math … in a zombie onslaught …" Sarah laughed. "And I always said that the class work was stupid and that we'd never have to apply it to real life."

"Wow …" Kyle said, blinking. "I'm using school. Period. Gross …" He laughed and Sarah joined him.

"Meow!" a cat called from the corner of the room and Kyle picked up his gun immediately, turning in its direction. The cat huffed and pranced out the door.

"Where did you get that?"

"The gun?"

"Yeah."

"One of my neighbours hunts, I broke into his house and took a few things after the first attack."

"Oh…"

"I don't hunt though …"

"Good! I don't like hunting."

"I see."

"So … where were you when you got attacked?"

"It was volleyball practice." Kyle paused and his eyes glazed over. "We had just finished up and we were heading back to the locker room to change, I got in and out pretty quickly, I had been planning on meeting up with Erica afterwards. Anyways, I got in my car and almost turned it on when the school bell rang and something screamed from nearby."

"Yeah?" Sarah prompted, captivated.

"Like, hundreds of zombies started sprinting towards the school, Timmy came outside at that exact moment and froze. Just, froze. Then he sprinted as fast as he could, which was pretty fast, in the parking lot direction, but this tongue came out of nowhere and wrapped around his throat."

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. It pulled him off the ground and dragged him up the side of the building as the other zombies broke through the doors and windows and into the school. Then this one, huge zombie with one massive fist walked past my car and swung its arm, the Ford went flying and I dove out of it and onto the pavement." He shuddered at the memory.

"Anyways, zombies were still coming, so I rolled underneath a second car, narrowly avoiding their pounding feet."

"Wow …"

"Yeah, anyways, eventually it felt safe enough to leave, so I rolled out from under it and started walking home. Whenever a zombie saw me it would scream and attack, so I eventually learned to stick to the shadows and stay silent."

"That's a lot more exciting than my story."

"What's your story?"

"Well, me and Emily were on webcam with my boyfriend, Jason." She paused and glared at Kyle as he raised an eyebrow. "It wasn't like that!" Kyle raised his hands up innocently and Sarah rolled her eyes. "Anyways, he turned around and looked at his bedroom door for a minute, and the camera started shaking, he turned back to the screen wide-eyed and then glass shattered and splashed into view, that was when Jason ran. Then these zombies broke through his door and broke his computer."

"But how did you wind up in the closet?"

"I ran for my cell phone. Earlier, me and Erica had made a fort in there and that was where I had left it. I grabbed it and turned to leave, but one of those flying, leaping ones jumped in and landed on her."

"Hunter."

"Hunter?"

"That's its name."

"Okay, well the Hunter attacked Erica and I panicked, I didn't know what to do, so I closed the closet door and hid in our fort until the zombies sounded like they were finished. Then I left the house and started walking. I didn't ever get attacked because I snuck away whenever I saw or heard a zombie. I ended up here." She gestured around the room.

The cat had returned and fallen asleep in the corner.

"Huh. I'm sorry."

"If I'm not allowed to be sorry, neither are you."

"Ha, you're right, sorry." Kyle smiled.

"Hey now!"

"I mean, you're right, I'm not sorry?"

"Now that's just rude."

"Stop that!"

Sarah giggled. Kyle rolled his eyes. Then there was a crash from fairly far away.

"What was that?" Kyle ran to the window and peered out. Over the blackened, snow-covered landscape was a plume of smoke coming up in the distance.

"Something crashed," Sarah guessed. "Oh my God, I screamed on the radio, you don't think Jillian would bring the others back here!"

"If she loves you she would. Come on." Kyle walked out of the room, pausing in a classroom to grab a baggie grey sweater that had been left by the previous owner on a chair back.

The pair of them walked crisply down the hallway to the stair case, skipping down them three at a time to reach the ground floor.

"Hey, you kids!" a man yelled.

They stopped dead in their tracks.

"Who are you?" Kyle demanded, eyes narrowing.

"My name is Dr. Peters," he said, striding up to them quickly.

"Back off, how do we know you aren't infected."

"I can talk …"

"Right …"

"What do you want?" Sarah asked impatiently.

"I need your help, I have to get back to the hospital, and you're both fairly strong looking teenagers. How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"Eighteen."

"Perfect! And you have weapons?"

"I don't." Sarah held up her empty palms.

"Follow me." Without another word, Dr. Peters turned on his heel and walked away.

"We don't have time!" Sarah yelled after him.

"Come on, we're going to save your cousin." Kyle turned and left the building, Sarah in toe.

"How long before he realises we aren't following him."

"Five bucks says, like, ten more seconds."

"Ten."

"Nine."

"Eight."

"Hey you kids!" Peters yelled from the doorway they had just vacated. Kyle swore.

"You owe me five bucks." Sarah smirked.

"Not like you can use it anyways," Kyle grumbled and rifled through the sweater pocket, pulling out a crumpled ten dollar bill. "Ha! Score! Not even my sweater." He laughed and handed her the bill. "Now you owe me five bucks."

"Here." Sarah held out a bill, folded repeatedly into a small square.

"Thank you." Kyle smiled.

"Hey!" Peters yelled again, stepping down onto the pavement.

"What?" Kyle yelled back in a hushed voice. "And shut up, they're drawn by sound, you dumbass."

"Huh?" Peters yelled at them, he glanced down at his watch and slammed accidentally into a parked car. The alarm started going off immediately.

"You idiot!" Sarah yelled and Peters screamed, holding his head in his hands and dropping a single pistol to the ground. Sarah dove for it and picked it up as creatures began to flood the lot. Peters crawled underneath a nearby car, whilst Kyle and Sarah stood back to back atop the same vehicle.

Daphne reached out a single talon and poked Aaron's cheek gently. He looked was unconscious on the board table where Daphne had laid him down after impact. His Assault Rifle, which he had kept clutched to his chest, was at his feet. There was a gash along his forehead that was bleeding freely and his wrist was bent at a strange angle. One eye was purple and swelling and his ribs were bruised too, visible from where the glass had cut through his shirt.

"Aaron," Daphne tried to say, but it came out garbled and screeching. She felt hot tears sting the corners of her eyes as his chest barely managed to rise and fall, but she was incapable of crying. At that moment, there was nothing she wanted to do more than that.

"There's one!" A man in a suit burst into the office, pointing his gun at her. She just stared at him as Aaron's breathing stopped.

"Kill it!" a second man said, followed by a woman, both in tightly fitting suits.

"Kill me," Daphne said. Once again, she was incoherent.

The man opened fire with his automatic weapon, bullets caught her, but she didn't feel any pain. She only sat there and took it.

"Ha, stupid bitch won't even move!" The man laughed, pausing in his onslaught.

"What about the boy, kill him too, he's probably just infected anyways." the woman sneered. She was fat, and Daphne could hear her blood rushing through her veins, she could smell it and taste it and it lured her more than anything ever had when she was human, but she just sat there.

"Yeah, kill the boy." Daphne registered their words then. Kill the boy. Kill Aaron.

"No!" Daphne screeched loudly, racing through the table, splitting it in half, Aaron's body rolled to the floor.

She swept her claws once, cutting off the gunman's wrist. The secretary screamed and started to run and Daphne followed her out into the hallway, catching up to her easily and slicing her neck open.

"Back off bitch." the second man yelled from inside the conference room. Daphne wheeled around, he had the gun pointing straight at Adam's head.

Hand shaking. Daphne thought. Accuracy off. Would be startled. Accuracy even further off. Attack. She tore across the room in seconds and had severed his heart before he could pull the trigger. Then she sat and cried again, dry, heavy sobs, with no tears. The scent of the blood overtook Daphne and she crawled over to the first man, and she drank from his stump of an arm like an animal. She felt disgusted with herself, but the blood was like a cocktail laced with an addictive drug far worse than any in society today. She drank and drank until the flow of blood stopped. All eight pints of the man's blood drained.

She moved on to the second man and started to drink her private elixir from the gaping wound in his stomach, sipping and gulping it down like soda or beer. She felt an elated feeling wash over her, she felt more human than she had in the two days since they had decided to cut off of the tour.

Unable to withstand, and no longer wanting to, Daphne walked briskly to the secretary in the hallway, her eyelids began to flutter as she drained her second kill and she knew that somewhere, deep inside of her, the old Daphne was watching, repulsed. She fell asleep like that, crying. A single spark of emotion triggered inside of her as tears rolled freely down her cheek.

The rain started to pour, as the moon fell. Jocelyn lay, alone, under the crumpled metal that was the helicopter, staring straight up. That night they had spent fighting at the guard tower in Belize replaying on the inside of her brain, as if branded by an iron. She recognized that it had been almost a full 48 hours since then, the helicopter ride had lasted a full twenty four and it was now at least six.

"But we've survived this long, we can't stop now," she said, smiling to herself. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she felt the futility and hopelessness of her mission push against her chest. She pulled at her ankle, heaving it away from the shattered piece of glass that held it against the ground. She leaned in and pushed the pane away from herself and then, mustering her courage, pulled her foot, ignoring the blood trail.

A whine from nearby caught her attention and Jocelyn looked up.

"He led me to you." the boy said. He looked to be seventeen, like herself, with blonde hair, streaked with darker colours. "My name is Braxton Crows," he said and bent down, pulling her away from the wreckage. Cooper sniffed her eagerly, one of their backpacks was strapped to him, Braxton carried another.

"The guns?"

"I've got them," another voice said. Michel Poirier walked out of a nearby ally way. He had short brown hair and thick muscles from boxing tournaments. He smiled sadly at her. "They were lighter, and so, fell and scattered around the impact sight before you actually crashed."

"Let me help you up." Braxton pulled her to her feet and supported her as best he could, putting her arm over his shoulder so that she wouldn't have to limp. Michel looked around the wreckage for signs of life.

"Jocelyn?" a male voice asked, groggy and thick from smoke inhalation, but alive.

"Matt!" she said, tears stinging her face. "You're alive!"

"Jocelyn!"

Michel lifted up on a fallen door and Matt crawled out from beneath it. He smiled at her wearily and fell into her arms, hugging her tightly and sobbing into her chest.

"It's okay," Jocelyn comforted him. "We're okay."

"But where is Vivian?" he asked, tears thickening his raspy voice even more.

"I don't know," Jocelyn choked. Michel cried out suddenly and Jocelyn turned. Braxton led her over to where Cooper was sniffing a pale caramel coloured hand sticking out of the wreckage.

"No!" Jocelyn cried. Braxton held her tightly then, Matt collapsing to the ground. Michel picked up remains and pulled them out of the way until Vivian was visible. She looked beautiful, Jocelyn thought, as she had in life. Her lips were white and empty, her eyes closed and her hair matted to her head by blood and rain, but she was beautiful.

"Not her. Anybody but her!" Matt cried, sobbing on his words. He held Vivian's body tightly as the pouring rain washed over them. Zombies staggered out into the street, but even they didn't attack. The aura of sadness in the air was so overwhelming.

Jocelyn felt hot tears soak the collar of Braxton's shirt as she let go and fell into his arms, unable to take her eyes from the sight of her once mighty best friend, laying dead on the ground below them.

Matt did not let go of her hand and Michel grabbed a shovel from a nearby ally. He started to dig her a hole in the lawn of the closest house.

"She won't go un-remembered," Braxton choked into Jocelyn's hair. "We'll remember her. We'll all remember her."

"But you didn't know her!" Jocelyn balled and Braxton held her face away from his.

"But you did."

So much was left unspoken in those words and Jocelyn needed somebody there for her at that moment. So she leaned in, and as Matt cried and Michel dug, and Vivian looked on smiling from somewhere up above, she kissed this man, this boy, whom she had just met. She kissed him and he returned the kiss. It did not heat up, but Jocelyn felt some of the pain edge away until all that remained was hope.

"I'll do this for her," Jocelyn whispered once she and Braxton had broken apart. "I'll survive for her. With this, there's nothing I can't do. I know Vivian, and she isn't dead."

"No," Braxton agreed, crying silently.

"No, she's alive in here." Jocelyn touched her chest and smiled through her tears. "I'll never forget her."

"Me neither," Michel said and then gently lifted Vivian from the ground, the rain continued to fall, matting his hair to his eyes. "I barely knew her, but she was amazing." He laid her in the shallow grave and closed his eyes. Jocelyn, Braxton and Matt followed, surrounding the hole, forming a circle of tears and hope.

"We'll make it for you Vivian," Matt choked out.

"We'll find a cure and save everybody else," Michel promised.

"We won't forget you, none of us." Braxton said, hugging Jocelyn tightly.

"And I'll tell Aaron that you loved him one last time too, Viv, because you never got the chance."

And then they could no longer speak, but all of the words that remained unspoken spilled from their bodies in tears and rippling sobs like a flood-gate that had been ripped from where it once stood strong. Vivian was dead.

"Daphne?" Aaron's voice roused her from her slumber. As her eyes opened memories from the night before flooded her mind.

"What?" she asked, intolerantly.

Aaron backed away in surprise. "Daphne!"

"Yes, what?" she asked him.

He just smiled widely, open-mouthed and stared at her. "You're you!"

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm me." Daphne rolled her eyes. She was grumpy, but Aaron's bizarre reaction to her had made her forget to be sad.

"No, I mean, you're you!" He turned away from her and grabbed a shattered piece of glass from the floor, awkwardly side-stepping the blood-less mass of man on the ground. He held it up in front of her.

"I know what I look like Aaron, I'm a freak, I'd rather not check it out again." She frowned, angry that he, of all people, would be trying to make her relive the past.

"No, just look!" Daphne rolled her eyes again and glanced down into her own pale, pinkish skin. Her full, red lips. Her thick blonde-brown hair. Her blue-grey eyes. She dropped the glass, it shattered forcefully against the ground. Aaron jumped up and down in front of her. "You're human again!" he sang.

"Aaron!" She grabbed him and managed to lift him up off the ground, he cried out in surprise, but hugged her tightly. She started to cry, tears of joy.

"Daphne! You're alive again!" he choked out, his elation thickening his voice.

"I'm alive! I'm alive! I'm not a Witch!" she screamed out the window into the rain. Aaron clapped for her and beamed.

"How the hell did this happen?" he asked, shaking his head.

"I don't know, but it did!"

"You're alive! I can't get over this!" he reiterated.

"I know!" She smiled, tasting the saltiness of her tears on her tongue. Aaron hugged her again. "Thank you." she said to him.

"I didn't do anything." He laughed.

"You didn't abandon me. You didn't kill me when you should have."

"Daphne, I could never kill you."

"Why's that."

"Because I could never forget you, I could never forget you as you are now."

"We won't forget you either. None of us will." Daphne smiled.

"Aaron Murray? Daphne Doran?" A thick, husky masculine voice sounded from the doorway.

"Mr. Domino?" Aaron broke apart from Daphne and stared at the doorway.

"There are too many! We can't hold them off!" Sarah said, already weary from the ongoing battle. There seemed to be no-end to the zombies and the sun had set.

"I know." Kyle sniped another Hunter mid-jump, then turned his sights around and shot a Smoker tongue as it reached the row of cars beside theirs, followed by another snipe into the gut of an oncoming Boomer whilst Sarah picked off common infected who got too close to their vehicle.

"I'm running low on ammo." He gritted his teeth.

"Me too!" Sarah shot another round into the heads of oncoming un-dead, and then swore as she heard the indefinite click. "I'm out!" She sat down on the car roof and started kicking the zombies in the face as they neared.

"Get in the car!" Kyle commanded.

"What?"

"Get in the fucking car!" A tongue wisped through the hoard and reached under the Ford, grabbing Peters and dragging him away. Kyle turned and shot the distant Hunter and Peters scrambled to his feet. "You, too, in the car!"

"But it'll make noise!" Sarah argued, but Peter dove straight into the vehicle, which was, unfortunately, locked, causing him to slam into it head-first and fall unconscious.

"Dumbass!" Kyle yelled and then jumped off of the roof, swinging his sniper rifle baseball bat style into the closest zombie, following up on his swing to smash the car window. He picked Peters up while Sarah kicked in the windshield and crawled into the driver seat. Kyle boosted Peters inside and kicked a zombie in the gut, it happened to be a Boomer and Boomer bile coated him.

"Get in!" Sarah yelled out, digging under the seat where, as expected, a set of keys had been stashed. She pulled them out and shoved them into the ignition, revving the engine as Kyle ran around into the passenger's seat. Sarah unlocked the door to grant him entry.

"Go! Go! Go!"

"To the hospital please," Peters said from the backseat, while Kyle stared at him disgusted.

"This isn't a fucking taxi, you'll get where I damn well take you!" Sarah pulled on the gear shift. The car was a manual. Fortunately, her parents had owned the same car and so, she knew how to drive it, or at least, how to start it.

"Have you ever driven before?" Kyle demanded as she slammed into a fire hydrant.

"Shut up, there's a first time for everything!" she yelled back and he swore and grabbed the door tightly. They ploughed through the mass of un-dead people, with Kyle using an ice scraper he had found in the back seat to push them away from the broken windshield.

"You know, you're a really bad driver," Peters commented lazily from the backseat.

"Shut the fuck up or I'll throw you out there!" Sarah yelled back and fishtailed the car as they took a turn.

"Wait, the hospital was the other way! Turn around!" Peters yelled and Sarah shook her head.

"The crash was this way, and my cousin could be there!" she yelled to him and he gritted his teeth angrily. Kyle saw a single common infected charge down the street towards them and opened his door in time to close-line her.

"Suck it bitch!" He laughed and then Sarah's gagging caught his attention, he turned to find Peters, purple with rage, with a scarf wrapped tightly around Sarah's throat. "Take me to the hospital, you little slut." he yelled.

Kyle took the scraper and, without thinking, drilled it into the middle of Peters' face. He fell back unconscious. Sarah breathed heavily and turned a third corner. At the end of the street, was a demolished helicopter.

"Amen." The group chorused and turned their heads away from the makeshift grave.

"Do you guys hear that?" Braxton asked then.

Jocelyn looked up at him and then down the street. "A car!" she exclaimed, then looked skywards. "I think Vivian was watching over us, and sent them."

"Get your weapons out. There's a hoard chasing them!" Matt said.

Braxton shouldered his automatic shotgun and Michel held his Hunting Rifle at the ready.

Jocelyn took her regular shotgun and Matt picked his uzi up. Cooper bared his teeth and growled. The car screeched to a halt and a teenage boy with blonde hair and another girl immediately jumped through the windshield.

Sarah picked up a fire extinguisher that had rolled from the wreckage, whilst Kyle picked up two silver pistols from where the supplies were stacked. The seven of them turned towards the massive hoard and loaded their weapons. In the confusion, Jocelyn didn't recognize her cousin, or Kyle.

"They're all around us!" Michel yelled and as if by instinct, they formed a rough circle to shoot, Jocelyn leaning the majority of her weight against a fire extinguisher.

The first wave hit them hard, with a Boomer charging out of an ally. Braxton dispatched him immediately, the vomit not even coming close to reaching them.

Jocelyn shot into the crowed and then shoved her gun forwards, gutting a close by infected.

Sarah swung her extinguisher from side to side, knocking the heads off of as many infected as she could. A Smoker reached out to grab her but she hit the tongue hard. Instead of recoiling it grabbed the weapon and pulled it away.

"Hey!" Kyle yelled to her and passed her a pistol. They were side by side in the Hexagon, with Matt on his other side, then Jocelyn, Braxton and Michel. She grabbed it and he shot behind her, splicing the head of an approaching infected, then he turned, crouched and shot up when a Hunter sprang over head.

"Watch the dog!" Sarah yelled and Braxton turned, blasting a distant Smoker before the tongue could reach Cooper.

Matt held his gun one handed and sprayed at the tops of the buildings, watching as Hunters fell from their perches, landing hard on the ground, splitting open like an egg.

"Boomer!" Matt yelled and levelled his gun, shooting the Boomer in the head, it fell after three bullets. A common infected ran straight over it, pushing against its stomach for leverage.

"Watch it!" Jocelyn twisted and aimed up at it, bringing it down in one spray.

Cooper sprang at an approaching infected, ripping out its throat before they had hit the ground, he then turned and jumped at a second, and then a third, repeating the attack.

Michel let loose on an oncoming group of zombies, round after round beating into him, he pushed one away with his foot, knocking it into two others, then he shot into their faces, all in one shot.

Braxton moved back in the circle, looking through the scope of his gun and shooting through the heads of three common infected darting out of an alleyway nearby, all with the same shot. Then he raised his sights and split an incoming tongue into four parts, shooting straight down the center until the bullet lodged in the Smoker's throat.

Kyle aimed his pistol and grabbed an infected, twisting it around and shooting it through the skull. He dropped it to the ground and shot into the throngs of people, crouching down again to steady his aim. He turned around and shot a Hunter that was flying towards Bryson, then he turned back and punched an infected woman in the face before shooting past her into the gut of a Boomer.

Jocelyn swung her gun and then shot a dazed infected in the face, the bullets injuring a large group of other zombies. She shot three more times, cutting them down swiftly.

Matt turned and saw a Jockey crouch from the corner of his eyes and shot it down before it could reach Kyle, then turned and shot into the crowd, killing three common infected and a Spitter who was readying an acid attack. It fell back, its own acid melting through its mouth and forming a puddle around it that damaged the other fiends.

"What are those vibrations?" Sarah yelled, but over the gunfire only Kyle and Michel could hear her, and neither knew the name of the hulking beast that came around the corner then.

"Tank!" Matt yelled and set his sights on it.

Braxton turned and shot at it too, with Sarah following suit. Jocelyn moved to protect

Braxton's back side and Michel and Kyle did the same, forming two lines looking in both directions.

Braxton shot the tank in the head once, then again, and a third time before it reached them, the bullets having little, to no visible effect. Sarah shot at its over inflated arms and watched as the bullets indented the skin and then fell back out.

"Shit!" Matt yelled as it swung its massive fist, hitting him into a nearby fire escape. He fell to the bottom level, rolling down the stairs and falling unconscious at the bottom.

"Oh God!" Braxton moaned and continued shooting as the Tank picked up a car. He threw it, but his aim was for Sarah, who tried to move out of the way, but got clipped by the headlight and fell to the ground, having barely enough sense to roll under a car and out of the way before falling unconscious.

"Shit, two down guys!" Kyle looked over his shoulder and Jocelyn moved to stand beside Bryson, unloading her clip into the Tank's face. Again, having minimal results. It ripped up a slab of concrete and threw it at them.

"Duck!" Jocelyn yelled and they did, the pavement flying over their heads and into the next row of zombies.

"We have to run!"

"No! Hold them off! I have a plan!" Braxton yelled and then shot the Tank to get its attention. He took off in the other direction, leaving Jocelyn, Kyle and Michel to hold the hoard. Braxton led the tank as quickly as he could to a gas station down the street, shooting as many infected as he could that got in his way, and beating down the dove to the ground as a car whistled past over head, catching fire in front of him, the fire started to spread and he was forced to run down an ally. The Tank was gaining on him as he met with a wire-mesh fence. He swore and started to climb it, reaching the top just as the mammoth zombie caught him, it shook the fence and he started to fall to the other side, he used the momentum to jump and land on his feet, the shock of the impact brought him to his knees, however, and he was forced to barrel role into the next street.

Braxton got up, panting, and continued to sprint to the gas station. He was near the back of it now, he knew, but he continued none the less. His lungs burnt and his breath came in quick, gasping halts, but the roaring of the tank pushed him onwards.

The Tank picked up another car and threw it at Braxton, he tried to avoid it, but it clipped his gun, sending it flying from his arms. Braxton swore and pumped his arms to run faster. He reached the street end and cut to the right, through somebody's back yard. The Tank ran after him.

When he reached the next street again, Braxton spotted the brightly coloured neon Shell gas station, but the S was burnt out, so now it read "hell". He grabbed a can of gasoline that was only half filled from where the owner had left it and backed up swiftly, leaving a trail behind him.

The Tank picked up a truck and threw it at Braxton, missing, but hitting the station itself. The energy expanded in the form of a fireball as the Tank roared. Braxton and his trail of gasoline were both enveloped in it.

The Tank turned to leave, but Braxton's trap had sprung and the fire caught, speeding into the gas tanks and exploding, killing the Tank instantly.

* * *

Okkay, so some serious close calls there. Is Braxton dead? Vivian died :( Who is Mr. Domino? Wait and review! What doyou think of Sarah, Kyle, Braxton, Michel and Dr. Peters?


	4. Form6X52X4

Okay, so this chapter isn't as long as the other ones, and it took me a while to upload. I guess I'm adjusting to summer vacation still, ahah. Graduation tomorrow, really not looking forwards to it.

Disclaimer; I don't own Left 4 Dead, but Aaron, Daphne, Jocelyn, Vivian, Matt, Jasper, Kyle, Sarah, Braxton, Michel, Domino, Cooper, Peters, Forsyth and anybody else that will appear in the future are mine.

This might be useful;

Group 1; Aaron, Daphne, Domino

Group 2; Jocelyn, Matt, Kyle, Sarah, Braxton, Michel, Cooper, Peters

Dead; Forsyth, Jasper, Vivian

* * *

"You're alive?" The large man looked relieved.

"No. We're dead," Aaron said seriously, then rolled his eyes.

"You haven't changed in the two years since I taught you." Domino's eyes twinkled.

"Hey now, I think this whole, zombie vs. human war would change anyone." Aaron smiled. "I mean, look at Daphne. She was a zombie, now she's not a zombie."

"What?" Domino stared at her and she blushed.

"I was a Witch … now, I'm a human again." She decided to edit out the blood draining part. She was ashamed of herself for it.

"How did that happen?"

"I don't know," Daphne said honestly. She didn't know why the consumption of blood had cured her, but it had.

"Really?" Aaron looked at her.

"Really." She nodded and smiled convincingly.

"Weird …"

"Do you two even have weapons?"

"I do." Aaron walked to the corner of the room, picking up his Assault Rifle.

"An Assault Rifle?" Domino asked incredulously. "How in God's name did you get that?"

"From a militia gun tower in Belize." he said.

"What?"

"Lamanai … Belize?"

"I know where it is! Why were you there? How did you get back here? Why were you in a gun tower in the first place?"

"Maybe we should explain from the beginning," Daphne said humorously.

"Yeah, good idea." Aaron laughed.

"Then go on." Domino sat in the chair and looked up at them. He was massive with muscles larger than grapefruits and a navy seal style haircut. His skin was tanned and red tinged. He currently was wearing a heavy blue and white jacket and tanned cargo shorts.

"All right, so we went on this school trip to Belize, Italy to check out the Mayan ruins in this desert."

"But –"

"Yeah, they were fake. The real ruins were in the jungle. We know," Aaron interrupted. "Anyways, so Jasper was like, _let's leave the tour_."

"And you did." Domino put a massive hand over his eyes and shook his head.

Daphne blushed. "Yeah, we did," she said.

"But it wound up saving our lives, so don't judge," Aaron huffed. "Me and Matt got in a fist fight with Jasper then and –"

"Matt from two years ago Matt? The one who handed in papers with marker instead of pen?"

"Yeah, that Matt," Aaron scoffed impatiently. "And Daphne and Viv got in a fight then too, but, like I told Jasper we would, we got shot at, mid-fight."

"Wait. Vivian?" He stood up and held a hand at his waist level. "This Vivian?"

"Yes, the short one." Aaron stared at him and he sat down.

"Sorry, go on."

"Okay, so me, Jocelyn, Vivian and Matt ran into the caves." Aaron silenced Boudreau with a glare. "Yes, Jocelyn was there too."

"Where did you go to then?" Domino looked at Daphne and she shrugged.

"I remember that we started to run back towards the trail, you know, because if we reached it than they couldn't shoot us anymore, but then I remember this mist covering the town. It was like, almost invisible, but the sun was so hot, that everything stood out, like, 3-D."

"And then?"

"And then I was a zombie, and so was Jasper I'm assuming."

"Yeah, in the caves, this old woman who was really attractive came out and I kind of spaced out. When I came back to my senses, Matt offered me this potion, I'm assuming it was an antidote, but then the woman came back and I spaced out again, next thing I know, Jocelyn is handing out bows and arrows."

"Jocelyn. Was giving out weapons? Wow, you guys have changed after all."

"Yup. Anyways, I didn't know what it was for, but then the woman was a zombie and attacked and JL killed her, and then Jasper came and dragged Jocelyn away."

"I thought Jasper was a zombie."

"He was, he dragged her away with his tongue, and I wanted to save her, but I didn't want to leave Viv in case there were other zombies."

"Were there?"

"Not yet." Aaron paused to gather his thoughts. "Long story short, I killed Jasper, then we made it to the guard tower that we had been shot at from because we figured there would be weapons and supplies and stuff there."

"I sense a but."

"But there were also a bunch of zombies and once we split up –"

"I'm sorry, split up? Whose stupid idea was that?"

"Matt's," Aaron said quickly, darkening a shade of red. "I was on the top floor and I found this gun and I fought some Hunters and –"

"Hunters?"

"The jumping ones," Daphne explained.

"And then I found a dog."

"Of course you did."

"I named him Cooper."

"Of course you did."

"I did!"

"I know. Go on."

"Fine, so I came down and found Jocelyn almost dead from where Daphne here had attacked her."

"What?"

"I didn't know what I was doing! Give me a break."

"Yeah, anyways, then I went down to the medical floor where Matt was and fixed her up, then a hoard came and I went upstairs to radio for help and got a helicopter coming. Sometime while I was upstairs, Daphne became less zombie like so we took her with us."

"All right."

"Then the pilot died."

"What?"

"So I had to drive, but then I got pulled out of the chopper and Daphne saved me by bringing me in here, through those windows. The end."

"Wow …"

"Yup!"

Domino got up and started pacing. "What's your theory on why this is happening? You were always the smart one."

"Well, originally, Viv thought it was science. I think that too, but not in the same way. She read that Mayans had made the game _Left 4 Dead_, which is pretty much exactly like this, as a warning to people of what was to come, and the 2012 thing, was just the Mayans measuring how long it would take for science to destroy itself, but then the pilot kind of picked apart her idea and I formed my own."

"Which is?"

"I think that somebody released the virus at exactly the time in which the world was supposed to end in order to wipe out the population."

"Why?"

"Maybe they thought that an army of people with no will power would be easier to control."

"Continue."

"I think they made up the Mayan-prediction-of-scientific-self-destruction article to lead people to believing, exactly what we believed."

"What about the game?"

"The game. I think some people who helped develop the virus predicted its effects and tried to warn people when they discovered the intention of the virus, I think the woman was one of those people, because she gave us the antidote."

"But who?"

"I have no idea."

================================================================"Where'd he go to?" Michel demanded as the last infected fell to the ground.

"I don't know …" Kyle said.

Jocelyn turned and looked at him. "God damn it! You?"

"Me!"

"You …"

"Me!" Kyle repeated.

"Jocelyn?" Sarah mumbled from beneath the nearby car.

"Sarah?"

"Me!"

"I'm not playing this game." Jocelyn frowned, but then smiled. Sarah crawled out from under the vehicle and her cousin ran to pick her up.

"You're alive!"

"I'm alive!"

"We're alive!" Kyle mocked and Michel laughed.

Jocelyn hugged Sarah and jumped up and down.

"Shut up, you." Jocelyn grimaced good-heartedly. Kyle laughed.

"No, but seriously, where did Braxton go?" Michel asked again.

"I have no idea," Jocelyn admitted, releasing Sarah.

"Are they gone?" A man poked his head fearfully out from the car that was parked nearby.

"You fucking coward!" Kyle spat at him.

"Me? Were you the one getting shot at? No! Would it have killed you to try and avoid shooting at the car?"

"Probably yes!" Sarah gasped, taken aback by his ingratitude. "It would've killed you too!"

"Who's he?" Michael asked.

"He's this idiot, coward adult who's hidden every time we had to fight anything so far!"

Kyle said, his voice spiked with loathing.

"Sounds pleasant," Jocelyn dead-panned.

A massive explosion came from down the street, then another one and they were all bathed in a wave of heat.

"Braxton!" Michel yelled and sprinted away from them, down the street. He reached the remains of the gas station at full speed and hurdled over a massive, bubbling hot shape beneath him. Most likely the Tank's corpse. He stumbled on a twisted piece of metal and came down on top of it, burning his hand. "Ouch! Fuck!"

"Mi …" a voice called out, but trailed off weekly.

"Braxton!" Michel yelled out. The crippled station and massive heat had left steam and smoke in the air and he could barely see. "Guys, I can hear him!" he yelled back, praying that somebody had followed him.

"Michel …"

"Braxton, I'm coming." Michel got down on his hands and knees, digging into the debris and ignoring the burns on his knees and palms. His fingers brushed against a thick, matted lock of dark blond hair. "Braxton!"

"I …"

"Guys, I found him!" Michel yelled and surveyed the damage.

Braxton's lower half was flattened beneath the Shell sign that was now completely burnt out and a thick pipe burnt a line into his chest and through his shirt. Michel gripped the pipe and felt the searing heat, but persevered, he felt it inch away from Braxton's skin, but not much else. "I need help, God damn it!"

"Michel?" Jocelyn called out from somewhere behind him. The steam limited all visibility,

"Jocelyn! Over here, I need help!" Michel pulled on the pipe again, but it hurt and did nothing.

"I'm here," Kyle said then and gripped the pipe, pulling up hard, Michael too pulled and the pipe moved. Braxton breathed thickly as the weight was lifted from his torso. Kyle moved so that the pipe was clear away from the fallen survivor and dropped it.

"Would you be … mad if I … just … slept right now?" Braxton said and then yawned.

"No! Don't let him sleep!" It was Jocelyn who spoke now. "He'll die if he sleeps."

"Get the sign off of him," Kyle commanded and bent, gripping the sign tightly. He pulled up and it lifted, but only barely. "Somebody else grab it." Kyle commanded and Michel did. Jillian bent down, looking at Braxton while they manoeuvred the heavy lettering aside.

"We need to get him to the hospital," Jocelyn said, suddenly all business. "Aaron's the one who's studying to be a doctor, but from what I can tell, he needs one. I don't know where Aaron is, but the hospital is pretty big, maybe somebody is still alive there"

"Ugh," Kyle said.

"What?" Michel looked at him.

"Peters is a doctor."

"Then we need him." Jocelyn turned to walk away. Michel picked Braxton up, piggy-back style and walked after her. Kyle followed.

"He's not the type of person to do anything for free," Kyle warned them, but they continued onwards.

"You are so ungrateful!" Sarah was yelling as they reached the car.

"Oh, just because I'm not happy that you shot out the car's engine?"

"It's not our fault! We were busy keeping your dead-beat ass alive!" Sarah yelled back."I didn't have a gun anyways."

"Neither did I!" Sarah was astounded. "I used a fucking fire extinguisher!"

"Well you're soooo brave then aren't you."

"Braver than you!"

"You ungrateful bitch!"

"Me? How am I ungrateful?"

"Without me, you wouldn't even be alive!"

"How do you figure?" Sarah asked, astounded.

"You used my pistol."

"Which was almost out of ammo anyways, besides, you didn't even give it to me. You just screamed like a little girl and hid under the car, dropping it. I just picked it up."

"Well la di da."

"Hey, fuck you," Kyle said, joining the conversation. "We should've left you to die."

"Then why didn't you?"

"We figured you would've been useful, being a doctor and all. How did you even manage to survive the days until we found you?"

"I hid."

"Shocking."

"Guys!" Michel yelled, halting the ceaseless banter. "We need him, as annoying as he is."

"What makes you think I'll even help you?"

"If you don't, we'll tie you up to a light-post and then set off that car alarm." Kyle smirked, pointing to a nearby mini-van. Cooper barked, as if in agreement and wagged his tail happily. Peters turned white as a ghost and stared.

"So you'll help us?" Jocelyn asked.

"Yes just …" He swallowed, his eyes bugging out of his head. "Get that dog away from me!" Cooper barked again and he screamed like a pre-pubescent girl who's Barbie-doll had fallen into the fireplace and melted. Kyle cocked his head to the side and pointed from the van to the light pole and then to the innocent canine with his tongue lolling out the side.

"You're afraid of …" Kyle stared and then burst out laughing. "You're afraid of dogs? Like, look at him! How are you afraid of –"

"Hey, shut up!" Peters yelled at him and Kyle just continued to laugh.

Jocelyn and Michel moved to put Braxton in the back seat of the car, strapping him in tightly. Then she got inside while he popped the hood.

"I blew up the engine …" Sarah admitted.

"No, you didn't," Michel said and then bent inside, shuffling around. There was a spark and then the headlights flashed on and off. "Fixed it."

"See!" Sarah yelled. The doctor rolled his eyes.

Sarah moved to get in the driver's seat but Peters stopped her.

"I think I'll drive this time." Then his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the ground.

"Nah, you won't," Kyle said, dropping the pipe and stepping over him, turning to lift his arms and drag him over into the backseat and onto the floor. Cooper bounded in and fell asleep on top of him.

"That'll be interesting when he wakes up," Jocelyn commented as Kyle and Sarah got into the front.

"Yes, yes it will," Sarah said and then peeled the tires, doing a u-turn and whizzing down the street in the other direction, towards the hospital.

================================================================"Hello?" a voice came from down the hallway.

"Really?" Aaron cursed and hung his head.

"What?" Daphne asked.

"It's Jon."

"Fuck …" Daphne cursed.

"Yeah."

"Who's Jon?"

"My cousin." Aaron looked at Domino and shook his head. "He can be really annoying."

"Aaron?" Jon said goofily from the doorway.

"Yeah. Daphne, let's go explore this building," Aaron said and Daphne nodded, following quickly while Aaron mumbled something about needing a new shirt anyways, leaving Domino to sit and shrug at Jon.

"What are we doing?" Daphne asked.

"Getting away from him." Aaron grimaced. "Also, looking for supplies. I couldn't grab a backpack before I fell out, so we're pretty limited in them."

"Do we even have anything?"

"Yeah, my Assault Rifle and that guy's uzi. That's all."

"Great. So, should we split up and search around?"

"No!" Aaron said and then laughed. "I mean, really, no."

"All right, jeez," Daphne said. Aaron smiled at her.

"It's just, last time I suggested that, you almost killed Jocelyn."

"Yeah …" Daphne turned to look out a window as they passed a second office. "Where do you think they are anyways?"

"I think that Jocelyn and Viv and Matt and Cooper are doing awesome and surviving just swell."

"Swell?"

"Shut up, we're both going to pretend I didn't say that."

"Sounds good."

"Let's look in here, it looks important." Aaron pointed ahead of them. The room was labelled 'Office of CEO Marvin Thicke'

"Yes, yes it does." Daphne opened the door tentatively and it swung in with no sound. Aaron strode inside and sat at the desk, rifling through it.

"I see lots of office equipment and note pads, but not much else." Aaron paused. "Wait a second, this drawer is locked." He pulled on it repeatedly to demonstrate.

"Well I'll go look for a key on one of those dead –" Aaron stood up and shot the lock off.

"Or not …" Daphne frowned. He pulled it open and held up two black and silver pistols.

"He was prepared I guess," Aaron said and continued to frisk beneath the desk. "There's a larger shelf under here." Aaron pulled out a shotgun and four pipe bombs attached to smoke detectors.

"Why would he have all of that?" Daphne walked up to him and Aaron frowned.

"I don't know … but I'm starting to think this Marvin Thicke knew about the zombies before the infection." He turned and booted up the computer.

"Password?" Daphne asked and looked at him. Aaron frowned.

"I don't know ... um ... zombies?" Red screen. "Marvinthicke?" Red screen.

"TheNewGeneration?" He typed in the name of the office itself. Red screen.

"Aaron?"

"What?"

"Try Form6X52X4."

"Why …?" Aaron looked at her. She pointed at a sticky note that was stuck to the top corner of the large monitor labelled Password. "Oh …"

"Form6X52X4." The computer acknowledged and the screen flashed green before bringing them to a page filled with complicated numbers and letters. Aaron studied it briefly.

"These all go Form, then a number from one to ten, then x, then a number from one to one hundred, then a letter, then a number from one to ten."

"I'm guessing Form stands for Formula." Daphne observed and Aaron nodded.

"I agree and I'm guessing that if this particular formula was important enough to make his password, Formula 6 class is a big thing that he needed to remember." Aaron flickered to a second screen with fewer numbers, all started with Form6X. Titled at the top was the title; Bio-Engineering.

"Now go to 52." Daphne pointed and he did, the screen once again filled with numbers. Beneath the Bio-Engineering label were two letters.

"GM?" Danielle asked.

"Genetic Mutation, it's a slang term for Genetic Engineering."

"What's Genetic Engineering?"

"Gene splicing." He looked at her, she shook her head and shrugged. "Recombinant DNA Technology?"

"Like _Jurassic Park_?"

"Kind of. Genetic Engineering is the direct manipulation of a person's, well, organism's DNA. Like, I could mess with your genes before you were born and through certain formulas and DNA injections, I could've made you a red-head. Heck, I could probably still do that now, if I had the formula, but it might be more disastrous, because your body has developed."

"So these people were messing with peoples codes?"

"Exactly," Aaron muttered and moved the touch pad to select section X. "Oh, my God." Aaron breathed excitedly. "Daphne, look." There were now five rows of four codes each, titled Bio-Engineering. GM. Mass Mutation Plan.

"Click on one!" Daphne said. "That Mass Mutation Plan must be this!"

"I know!" Aaron moved over to the first one, Form6X52X1, and clicked it open. A video popped up showing a man strapped to a table. A scientist in a white coat turned to the screen.

"We have finally developed the first of the mutation serums, we are about to test it on this perfectly healthy man. He doesn't smoke or drink and has no physical deformities," the man said and then tapped on a needle in his hands, moving back to where the man sat. He injected the thin tip into the man's skin and pushed on the head.

"But there's nothing in it," Aaron said. Daphne shook her head.

"Yes it is, don't look for something, look for the absence of anything."

"Huh?" Aaron looked closer and spotted it, everything viewable through the needle was milky and blurred, but as the head pushed farther down, it became visible.

"The patient appears to be contained, now we will watch the mutation," the scientist said and then left the room, the video moved into a time-lapse and they watched while the man screamed and writhed in pain. His skin turned from black to a dark purple-grey shade. His veins became more prominent and his eyes went crazed and yellow. The nails on his hands and feet elongated slightly and hardened so that they were sharper and his teeth did the same. Eventually, his screams became less and less human, until they were purely animal.

"Subject has completed the transformation into a common infected," the scientist said from behind the camera, then it went black.

"Wow …"

"What about this one, his password, four."

"Try it," Danielle said and Adam clicked on it, opening a second video.

"While there appears to be no cure for the disease, as proven in our last video, we have discovered an immunization, or rather, dear Forsyth has." The man on screen said, then moved aside to reveal a heavyset black woman. Adam's breath caught in his throat.

"That's the wise woman from the cave."

"Er … yes. Well, I'm not sure about this entire operation anymore to be honest," the woman said awkwardly on screen. The doctor must have done something off screen because fear flickered in her eyes and then she forced herself to address the camera. "The immunization separates a person's weaker blood cells from the stronger ones and bunches them into larger groups, so that the weaker blood cells surround the medium strength ones and then the strongest ones. When one weak blood cell is infected, the other cells that are stronger are able to quickly destroy and then replicate it before any real damage can be done."

"Observe, our test," the scientist said and then the screen flickered to a female zombie in a room with a human man both strapped down. The scientist injected the man with a purplish-green formula and then set them both loose before fleeing the room.

The man sat up and the woman pounced on him, biting into him and scratching him whilst he screamed. The audio switched over to the scientist's voice now.

"As you can see, he is experiencing none of the symptoms of becoming an infected, however, he is still victim to the abuse of them. He will be dead shortly, however, he will not become one of them." The scientist's voice was cheery as the female zombie reared back a hand and swiped, splashing blood from the man's neck all over the room. A burly man with a gun entered then and shot the zombie in the face before it could drink too much. Danielle felt sick in her stomach.

"Should we watch the other ones?" Adam gulped. Danielle nodded, and they did.

The second video had been of how the virus affected females the same as males, the third was a failed attempt to heal the male. The fifth displayed an obese man changing into a Boomer, as classified by the scientist. The sixth was an obese female who changed genders mid-change and became the same as the male.

"As you can see, if a female is in an unhealthy state or is not entirely average, she will change to suit the virus' intended final transfiguration," the man had said.

Seven and eight had a man and woman who both looked very fit, not in a body-building sort of way, more swimmer-like, or a track star, or a tennis professional. Both changed into something very similar to the common infected, except when the gunman looked into its crazed, white eyes, he became paralyzed and fell to the floor, falling victim to the swiftly moving cretin.

"The eyes of these Hunters are dangerous and though they do configure into two separate genders, the virus has been manipulated to affect only those with hooded clothing, and a strand of DNA has been added so that during the change, they lift those hoods and cover their eyes. If a target is infected without this type of clothing, they have no choice but to seek them out, mid-change."

The videos continued much the same way, Smokers were people who did or had smoked at some point and both men and women wound up becoming them. Jockeys were children and wound up losing a gender altogether. Spitters were pregnant women or bulimics and anorexics, but still only women, bulimic and anorexic men died. Tanks were men with body-building fitness levels, the women simply died. Witches were women who had been on their period – Daphne had blushed considerably at this video. Chargers were left handed people, both men and women.

"Wow …" Daphne said as they reached the end of the Charger video. It had been video 6X52X22. Aaron had discovered a second page with five more videos on it after the Witch videos.

"Wait a minute, that's it, I mean, what are these last three videos about?" Aaron said. "There are no more zombie types."

"I don't know, click on them," Daphne said. Aaron did.

The first video was a montage of people with various diseases being injected, but they simply died. The second was news that Mayan prophesies being scientifically based had been leaked, also that a few traitorous company workers had leaked information on the disease in game form, and finally that the disease could now be spread via a misty substance so as to infect anybody who was outdoors at the time.

The third was more interesting, however.

"The plan is in motion, once the world has become infected, we will act, waiting two or maybe three weeks before we act. Our island is secure and the infected are incapable of swimming or flying. Our group will meet at the island immediately and bunker down until we can weed out the naturally immunized and perform tests on them, because with their DNA, we can create a new generation of super, healthy humans, henceforth eliminating disease in its entirety. There is no cure for the infection, so ensure that should your comrade become infected, leave them behind, or better yet, shoot them in the face. Thank you."

The end.

Aaron looked at Daphne.

"They're going to make a new generation of people, by eliminating this one. That's preposterous! How do they assume that by turning everybody into zombies, the world will improve?"

"I don't think they do … I think they just want to eliminate the weaker people, then capture the strong ones to use as guards in their life of luxury. They don't care about the rest of the world, only themselves."

"That's so stupid! And what about this, no cure thing? Are they serious? You're alive, so obviously something can reverse it."

"I know." Daphne yawned. "But right now, I just want to sleep." She sat down against the radiator for warmth and drifted away. Aaron breathed deeply and reclined the chair, closing his eyes.

Domino looked at the sleeping boy in front of him and smiled. He would protect these people, as best he could, until he died. Then he too dozed off.

"This was a good idea," Jocelyn said to Sarah, who had pulled over next to a hotel approximately half-way to the hospital.

The hoard had been attracted by the car, but the survivors had managed to make it into the building and lock the doors before any infected actually caught them. Peters had fainted again upon realizing that Cooper was atop him and so Kyle and Michel had dragged him inside and thrown him on the floor against the door.

Sarah and Jocelyn shared one bed, with Braxton in the other. Kyle sat beneath the window, against the heater, with his pistol in hand. Michel took the floor between the beds, Cooper curling up next to him. They were all asleep in a matter of minutes.

Matt awoke awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Um … hello?" he called tentatively. Nobody was there, they had forgotten him, they had left him behind.

"Oh man …" He shook his head to clear away the dark spots that erupted when he raised it. "Hello?" He got up. No answer.

Alone, unarmed and afraid, Matt ventured out into the cold city. The night had fallen a while ago and it was pitch black, except for the moonlight glinting off of the thick blanket of snow and blood that surrounded him. He stepped around a Boomer husk and continued on down the street in the direction that they had come.

"Wait a minute …" Matt said to himself as he walked. "It was December 21st when we left the tour …" He paused remembering the day. Corn flakes had been provided in tiny single-serving cardboard boxes with small milk containers before they were forced to head out. Aaron and Vivian had been late for breakfast. Jocelyn had beaten him in Wii Sport Resort that was set up in the hotel lobby and Daphne had left with Jasper and didn't return until the tour started.

"It was December 22nd when we got on the helicopter …" He continued his thought process. The night had been full of fighting and foraging for any remnants of supplies, but they had all fallen asleep quickly once boarded.

"The flight lasted a full twenty four hours, which means that it was the 23rd, that was when Viv died, and now it's Christmas Eve!" Matt laughed and a nearby infected heard him. Matt's heart stopped when the beast yelled out and ran him down. Matt turned and raced into the closest building; he bounded up the stairs and slammed the door behind him.

When the door clicked an alarm began to buzz.

"Intruder alert. Unknown persons detected. Intruder alert," the alarm blared and Matt gasped and ran into the middle of the office, grabbing two staplers from the desks, he held them out in front of him and waited, and sure enough, they came.

The zombies spilled through the door, snapping it into pieces as they came. He shot five staples in total, impaling one zombie, but not slowing him in the least, and then they hit him. He felt their teeth on his skin and their fingernails digging into his body. He tried to scream, but his throat closed off suddenly. Blood gurgled out of his mouth, muffling his cries and the zombies continued to feast.

_I'm coming, Vivian,_ Matt thought. His last thought. Matt was dead.

* * *

I think that that was a good chapter :D

Review please!

Group 1; Aaron, Daphne, Domino, Justice

Group 2; Jocelyn, Kyle, Sarah, Braxton, Michel, Cooper, Peters

Dead; Forsyth, Jasper, Vivian, Matt


	5. The Lantern Bearer

Okay, so when I started this story, I started with one scene. That scene was the EXACT scene from the Left 4 Dead opening sequence, substituted with characters. My goal was to provide that scene with a backstory and a foregrounds. That is what I did, and then some. That is also the only reason why I incorporated Jon, so that the group with the scene would have four people. I won't pretend that that scene was my imagination, because it wasn't. None of Left 4 Dead is (-Disclaimer)

Okay, so I got a really great review last chapter from an anonymous reviewer. Since he/she could not be reached through inboxing, I will respond to it here. At least the questions, I appreciate any comments or criticism as long as the criticism focuses little on Aaron, I'll explain why in a second. First, yes, a few of these characters are based on real life people. Jocelyn, was innitially just an idea of a girl's personality, then I realized, the personality I was describing in my mind was the same as that of a girl I was familiar with. Her appearance fit, and so, I put it in. Since then, I've found myself imagining what that girl's reaction to things would be, thus, Jocelyn's actions. Aaron is a big one, he's based off of my dead brother. It's a long, traumatic and horrific story, so I won't go into it, but if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be around to write these stories. That's why I take criticism about his character to heart. If you're going to criticism him, I'd do it anonymously so I don't have a chance to totally bite your head off. The other characters are fine. The only other character to be based off of a person, was Prof. Domino, who was based off of a past teacher of mine. I figured it'd be like a final tribute before I left him behind. Probably EVERYBODY who'se read this has stumbled upon the following mistakes; Victoria, Jillian, Boudreau and Justice. Jillian is my sister, she interupts me sometimes when I'm writing, and if I'm writing down Jocelyn's name and my sister is talking, I tend to accidentally write down Jillian instead. Victoria is my best friend who often MSN chat's with me while I am writing, hence the Vivian-Victoria mistakes. Boudreau and Justice were the two optional names of Domino and Jon. That was what their names had originally been intended. About half way through I started loathing those names, so I went back and changed them. I guess I missed a few. There you are!

Okay, this is THE longest chapter yet, and I think one of the best. Not too, too much action in this part until the very end, but I think it's decently written anyways. Comment at the end! Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what you think of Aaron, Daphne, Jon, Domino, Kyle, Braxton, Jocelyn, Sarah, Michel, Peters and Cooper. Who do you think is next to die? Who do you think will make it until the end? Tell me readers! I want to know! Thanks!

* * *

"Okay, so I've taken the liberty of making up a list," Domino said, laser pointer in hand. He pointed to a white board upon which a checklist had been drawn up. "Priorities in this situation are; food, shelter, water, safety and protection. Let's talk about the first one."

"There's probably a cafeteria in here or, like, a break room with food and stuff," Jon said. Domino nodded.

"Okay, you go there and check to see if there are any supplies that we can use."

"A lot of people keep food at their cubicles or desks, we could check there, and if we found a water bottle or something we could fill it with tap-water from fountains or the break-room," Daphne offered, Aaron grinned at her, impressed.

"Good, after this, we'll all spread out and try checking that up. I think we're fairly safe here, so I don't see splitting up being too much of an issue."

"Just one other thing about the food, the way I see it, we need storage for it before anything else because it's not like we can carry six cans of tomato soup with us wherever we go," Aaron said. "I think we should keep an eye out for anything to hold that sort of thing."

"True enough. Water."

"Taps," Aaron said. Daphne nodded.

"And water bottles," she added.

"All right, shelter."

"We have shelter here don't we?" Jon asked, absentmindedly chewing on the string of his hoodie.

"We do, but we can't live here, besides Viv is out there and so are Jocelyn and Matt," Aaron argued.

"But we wouldn't even know where to start looking," Domino pointed out.

"We have an idea, I mean, I don't think that helicopter could've lasted too much longer, so it had to have crashed, and there is no way all of them managed to escape the crash unscathed, somebody must've gotten hurt."

"Where are you going with this?" Jon asked, but Daphne nodded and formed an O of comprehension with her lips.

"That new Mercy Hospital!" Daphne finished for him. "And that works for the next part too, safety. Where is it safer than at a hospital?" Domino looked at them and cocked his head to the side, considering the idea, then nodded.

"All right, if it comes to that, we'll leave for the hospital, but we have priorities first off. Next on our list is …" He looked up at the wall. "Protection."

"Well …" Aaron started, but burst out into a grin. Daphne began laughing. "I think that protection is probably the most important … wait, no, forget that," he said, still trying to smother his laugh. "It's important that we use … wait, no, not that either."

"We have guns!" Domino silenced him, rolling his eyes. Aaron and Daphne burst out laughing. Jon looked at them like they had suddenly gone insane.

"I don't get it," he said. Domino face-palmed himself and Aaron and Daphne doubled over, laughing so hard that they no longer even produced sounds, just feeble gasps of air.

"I'll tell you when you're older," Aaron said, wiping at his eyes, and patted his arm mockingly.

"Oh! I get it now!" Jon said and Daphne rolled her eyes. "You mean the bombs, right?"

"Oh, my God, you're retarded," Aaron dead-panned and looked away from them. They were sitting around an oval shaped table in a conference room. Domino stood at the front, waving his new-found laser pointer to and fro.

"Moving on …" Domino sighed and turned away from them.

"We'll head out and look for supplies now. Creep the cubicles and such," Aaron said, laughing. He shook his head and left. Daphne followed him.

"Condoms," Domino explained. "They were talking about condoms." He waved his head at the seated boy. Jon ran a hand awkwardly through his wannabe afro and nodded.

"Oh! See, that makes sense to me now," he said. Domino took in his clothing. He was wearing a pink and white striped polo and jeans that were probably two sizes too small, with knee high socks.

* * *

"Oh, my God," Jocelyn said, sitting straight up in bed. Sarah jolted and fell, landing hard on the floor, landing on Cooper's tail. He yelped and Michel and Kyle jolted awake. "We forgot about Matt!"

"Oh shit …" Kyle muttered. A moment of silence passed between them all.

"Well … did you want to go back for him?" Michel asked awkwardly, clearly not wanting to backtrack.

"No, it's important that we keep moving forwards," Jocelyn said, swallowing hard. "It's what Viv would've wanted, and I'm sure it's what Matt would want."

"He might not be dead though, JL." Sarah reached out a hand gently to Jocelyn, who flinched away at her touch.

"No … Matt, me, Vivian and Aaron … none of us are super tough people, it was because we worked as a team and used each other's individual talents to survive. None of you survived on your own either. Besides, he was unarmed. His gun went flying when the Tank hit him, and I doubt he could find it in the dark."

"Are you sure? I'm fine if you want to go back …" Kyle said, concerned.

"I'm sure …" Jocelyn drew a shaky breath. "It's nothing but dangerous if we go back, if we don't keep moving forwards, we only move back into destruction. There's a light at the end of every tunnel, we move towards the light, not back into the darkness."

"That was …" Sarah paused. "Profound."

"Yeah …" Kyle looked at Jocelyn and then turned, walking to the adjoining bathroom.

"What's he doing?" Michel asked.

"When you gotta go you gotta –"

"Score!" Kyle yelled from inside the door. "Spare toothbrushes and toothpaste!" He held one up, it was miniature and beige, but it was there.

"Nice! How many?" Sarah asked.

Peters roused groggily near the door. "However many, one is mine," he said.

"How do you figure?" Jocelyn asked incredulously.

"I'm the adult, you're nothing but a big group of snot-nosed kids."

"We also outnumber you four to one," Michel pointed out. "And we all have weapons." He gestured to the automatic shotgun in his hand, the pistol that had fallen from Kyle's lap and was now resting beside the generator, its twin on the nightstand and the normal shotgun that was laying across Jocelyn's lower body on the bed.

"Yeah, well you need me," Peters said.

"Not really …" Sarah pointed out. "We only need you to fix Braxton, but I'm sure there would be other doctors at the hospital anyways."

"Yeah, so really," Kyle said, coming back out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth and a blue-ish paste foaming at his lips, "you need us." He walked back in and spat, then rinsed the toothbrush and brushed again.

"Yah … well …" Peters stammered, "… fine. Take the toothbrush, I don't want it anyways."

"… Greaser," Jocelyn said in a heavy southern accent.

Kyle laughed. "Oh the days of bad English teachers and The Outsiders." He laughed. Jocelyn laughed with him. "There are three more by the way, I'm keeping this one."

"Nice! We'll take them with us and there will probably be a few supplies at the hospital too. We'll get something there for Braxton."

"Good idea, Sarah, but for the moment, I'm having a shower!" Jocelyn jumped from the bed and raced into the bathroom, pushing past Kyle who jumped out of the way, grinning.

"I should've thought of that." He laughed and then sat down on the bed. "How's he doing anyways?"

"Not good …" Michel said, frowning. "His cheeks are paler than yesterday and his hair is matted to his forehead with sweat."

"Yeah …" Sarah got up off the floor and walked over. "But look! Some of the minor burn areas are already starting to heal over."

"Some of the minor burn area's are starting to heal," Peters said in a nasally, mocking impression of her.

"Boy, I will cut you," Sarah threatened.

Kyle laughed. "Yeah, she gon' go all ghetto on yo' ass." He mocked. Sarah stuck out her tongue at him.

"JL …?" Bryson stirred.

"Wait, weren't we not supposed to let him sleep?" Sarah asked.

"Oh right …" Michael said. "Oops … Good thing he didn't feel like dying."

"JL?" Bryson repeated.

Michael glanced down at him. "Braxton!" He bent down until they were at face level. "Braxton how are you feeling?"

"JL …" he said. His lips parched.

"JL's in the shower, buddy, do you want me to get her out?" Michel stood to knock on the door.

"No … no … let her …"

"I got it. Let her shower," Michel said and bent back down. "How are you?"

"Lil' … thirsty."

Kyle laughed and the other two smiled. "I'll get it." Kyle walked over and stood in front of the door that Peters was leaning against. "Move."

"Make me."

"Okay!" Kyle said enthusiastically reaching down.

"Wait! Okay! Don't hurt me!" Peters crawled away and Kyle walked out.

"Coward." Sarah frowned at him.

"I am not a coward!"

"Seriously?" Sarah asked in disbelief. "Prove it, go with him, there could be zombies out there and I'd rather he wasn't alone."

"Me? No way! I'm too valuable, you do it."

"First, you're not valuable at all! You haven't given us one piece of advice on how to keep Braxton alive! Not one! Second, fine! I will!" She stormed out.

"Dibs on second shower," Peters called.

Michel stared at him. "Yah." He paused. "No."

* * *

"Hey! Daphne! Check this out!" Aaron called over to her. She got up from a spin-chair and left the cubicle she was in. Aaron came into view then.

"I found clothing!" he said excitedly. His shirt was literally close to just falling off, from the cuts made by the glass, but he led her into an office off to the side of the massive cubical room.

"Clothing? For me?" she asked excitedly, looking down at her booty-shorts.

"Well … not really … but you could wear them. They're boys clothing. I guess somebody must have gone shopping on his way here. The cloths still have the price tag on them!"

Aaron brought out a heavy-looking plastic bag.

"Good for you." Daphne laughed. "I'm going to keep looking for food, you come out when you're re-dressed."

"Okay!" Aaron said enthusiastically. "If I can't shower this is the next best thing!"

"Hey, Daphne Clay, right?" Jon walked up to her, carrying a can of soup in each can. "Which of these would be better to bring on a vampire hunting trip?"

"Vampire hunting?" Daphne asked incredulously. "Those are zombies! Are you serious?"

"Zombies? But … I thought they were vampires…"

"Oh, my God. I can't handle this." She put a hand to her head and walked away.

"Wait! Which soup?"

"Both of them!" Daphne screamed.

"Oh … good idea!"

Daphne shook her head and turned the corner.

"Okay Daphne, how do I look?" Aaron came out of the office smiling and then frowned at the boy in front of him. "You're not Daphne."

"Not at the moment." Jon said.

"Not at any moment …" Aaron sighed. He was now wearing dark black-blue, stone-washed jeans over his running shoes. A tight brown fake-leather belt held them up, but it was covered by a plain white t-shirt and a black Nike windbreaker.

"No fair! I want new cloths!"

"Too bad."

"But –"

"Too bad!" Aaron walked back around the corner, opposite the one Daphne had gone around.

"He doesn't like me …" Jon said as a large hand rested on his shoulder.

"Yeah …" Domino said. "Why is that?"

"I don't know … Daphne doesn't like me either …"

"I can tell. Did you ever do anything to her?"

"I don't remember doing anything …" Jon shrugged.

"Well, they'll get over it. I mean, we're only four survivors, so we don't have much choice but to get along."

"As long as we all survive," Jon pointed out.

Domino sighed. "Yes, as long as we all survive."

* * *

"That ... was refreshing." Jocelyn opened the bathroom door and stepped back into the hotel room.

"About time, my turn." Peters pushed her to the ground and marched in, slamming the door behind him. Jillian clutched her towel to herself so as not to drop it.

"Hey! Wait! My clothes are in there!" She pounded on the door.

"Too bad!" Peters said from the other side.

Michel looked at her sadly from the bed beside Braxton. "Come on," he said, half amused: she blushed fiercely. "We'll go raid a tourist's suitcase and find you some cloths."

"Thanks for coming with." Kyle smiled at Sarah.

She grinned back. "No problem, I couldn't handle being in the same room as Peters for another minute anyways."

"Yeah … he's annoying." Kyle slurped up another spoonful of canned spaghetti. They were seated at the kitchen table of a nearby room. The previous occupant had stacked the cupboards with non-perishable food and the pair of them were taking a short break from scavenging in order to eat.

"You know, spaghetti tastes so much better when you haven't eaten in, like, a week."

"A week? The infection started, like, three days ago." He paused. "Merry Christmas Eve, by the way."

"Ho, ho, bloody ho." Sarah glared at him, then smiled.

"Bloody ho?"

"That's not a pretty picture, Kyle." Sarah shook her head at him.

"What?"

"A bloody ho. Hoes are people too. And just because your mother –"

"Hey now!"

"Sorry, I was on a roll." Sarah giggled, Kyle rolled his eyes and swallowed another spoonful.

"I think I'm going to have a shower." Kyle got up and set down his can, still hot from where he'd micro-waved it.

"You do that." Sarah laughed and set her food down too. "I'm going back to the other room."

"All right." Kyle walked into the adjoining bathroom. Sarah left the room, running into Jillian in the hallway.

"Oh hey!" she said, Michel peeked out of the next door over.

"I found clothing in here," he said, then walked totally into view. He had discarded his battle clothing in exchange for a leather jacket and black jeans. The jacket was zipped up to his neck, neatly covering the purple polo he had been wearing since the beginning.

"Nice!" Jocelyn said and grabbed Sarah's hand, pulling her in. "We're going shopping ... ish!" She laughed. Michel shook his head and headed back to the room.

Peters walked out of the bathroom completely naked and Braxton, who had just forced his eyes open shut them immediately.

"Really ... necessary?" he rasped.

"Well that dumb bitch took the towel with her!"

"You … locked … out …"

"What?"

"Her … out," Braxton tried again.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"Dumb … ass," Braxton wheezed.

Peters got angry suddenly and raised his hand back, flashing it forwards and striking Bryson across his severely burnt face. Braxton gasped and his eyes rolled from the pain.

"You. Did. Not!" Michel screamed from the doorway, running forwards, jumping over a bed and tackling Peters to the ground. "You did not just hit a cripple!"

"Don't kill me! You need me!" Peters whined and Michel growled in his face.

"No, we don't!" He picked him up by the elbows and pushed him against the door, punching him in the face and then the gut. Peters doubled over and Michel pressed him up against the door again.

"Please don't!" Peters cried and Michel smiled cynically.

"Don't what?" His hand inched closer and closer to the door, past Peters naked stomach.

"Kill me!"

"What if I just left you out in the hallway? For the other three to see you like this?"

Michel growled as Peters whimpered.

"What? No! That's not fair."

"Bye Doctor." Michel laughed and opened the door, causing the doctor to fall backwards into the hallway. He slammed the door behind him.

* * *

Daphne looked in the bathroom mirror gingerly. Her contact lenses had been rinsed out, but after becoming a zombie and returning to human, her eyesight had been restored completely as well. She was wearing a black pencil skirt that she had cut down the middle to allow her legs to swing with black leotards underneath. On top she had on a white blouse and black blazer. She smiled at herself and flipped her hair. Besides the heavy bags under her eyes, she looked much like the old Daphne, only more mature and sexier.

"Daphne?" a man's voice called from the doorway.

"Yes?" she asked and jumped up to sit on the counter.

"Are you decent?" Domino asked.

"Yep, come on in." She smiled as he entered.

"You look very pretty," he said kindly. "But I just wanted to come and ask how you were feeling."

"I'm okay," she answered simply, but something gnawed at her insides heavily and she felt guilty for lying.

"No, Daphne, you aren't." He leaned against a stall door and looked at her. "Look, me and Aaron were talking and we're going to leave here tomorrow. We have enough weapons to survive and the supplies have all been packed up, so this might be your last chance to tell me what's wrong." He looked at her, his eyes penetrating her outer shell and seeing something within her that she had been hiding all day. "What did you do, Daphne?"

"What do you mean?" Daphne tried to act innocent but had to look away.

"I mean while you were a zombie."

"I told you I don't remember –"

"Yes, you do," the teacher said bluntly.

"Yes." She broke down crying. "I do!" She fell to her knees and he held her while she shook. He stared at himself in the mirror and stood stolid.

"Tell me. Tell all, Daphne. I'm here for you."

"I can't … I always tell Aaron everything."

"Do you want him?"

"No," Daphne said. "No, but I just want you to know, I remember."

"I understand." Domino said and held her tightly until she had finished crying.

"Shut up."

"But which gun do I get?"

"Shut up."

"And can I carry the peas?"

"Shut up."

"Why do you keep ignoring me?"

"Shut up."

"I want to go bowling …"

"Shut up!"

"… How come you're still alive?"

"Gah!" Aaron jumped across the office table and tackled Jon to the ground."Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

"Whoa! Whoa!" Domino walked in and lifted Aaron into the air, flailing his legs. Jon got up and brushed himself off.

"How come you hit me?"

"I. Will. Kill. You!" Aaron yelled, straining to get free.

"… Why?"

"Oh, my God!" Aaron screamed.

"Calm down!" Domino said. "Daphne, you'd better take Jon out of here." He sat Aaron down in the chair.

"I'm going to kill him if the zombies don't do it first," Aaron deadpanned.

"You don't mean that."

"I dunno … if he polls me on corn verses peas again, my trigger finger could slip up a tad."

"Come on, just hold it together for one more night. We'll leave for the hospital first thing tomorrow morning. I've packed the backpacks with food and flashlights, we're all set."

"Fine." Aaron frowned and left.

"Oh, my God …" Kyle stopped short in the hallway, hair still wet from his shower.

Jocelyn, clad in a long-sleeved purple plaid shirt and jeans, and Sarah, wearing female biker clothing, came to a halt beside him.

"Oh that's disgusting!" Jocelyn turned away, laughing.

"Gross!" Sarah shielded her eyes.

"Wow, Peters, it's not that cold out here." Kyle grinned and the doctor feebly tried to cover his genitals with his hands. Sarah shook her head and walked over to the door, knocking hard three times.

"Hey, Michel, let us in," she yelled. "Preferably before our eyes burn out of their sockets." She could hear him laughing from the other side of the door, then a clicking noise and the door swung in.

"Come on in." He chuckled and they filed into the hotel room. He closed the door in front of Peters. "You can come in once you've found some clothing," Michel spat.

"You brat! Let me in!"

"Yeah. No," Michel said.

"What did he do this time?" Jocelyn asked.

"Slapped Braxton." Michel's eyes darkened.

"What is his problem?" Sarah shouted.

"I don't know but if he keeps it up, I'll fix it for him," Kyle threatened.

"Not now," Jocelyn reasoned. "It's best if we just get a good night's rest tonight."

"Yeah, you're right." Kyle grumbled and sat down beside the radiator.

"Hey, Kyle and Michel," Sarah said. They looked up. "Do you two want the bed tonight?"

"No, that's okay, you girls can take it." Michel waved them off. Kyle nodded.

"No, I insist," Sarah said.

"Yeah, I don't mind, it's only fair," Jocelyn agreed, nodding eagerly.

Kyle shrugged. "If you're sure …" he said.

"We're sure," they answered simultaneously.

"All right." Michel shrugged and hopped into bed.

"Then let's get ready for bed."

The night fell late early that night, and the ten surviving humans fell into a deep, dreamless slumber, all lost in a world all their own. There was still one survivor, however, who was neither human, nor dreaming peacefully.

_Cooper barked twice to get his owners attention. The obese human waved him away, yawning. He yelled at him, but in the dream, it was drowned out, as if underwater. Cooper could see the skinny zombie woman creeping out from the kitchen and barked again. She turned her piercing eyes on him and he yelped, running across the room and clawing at the glass door. _

_The man just waved him away again. Mumbling something else. Cooper barked once more, frantically, before he actually turned away from the television to look at him. The woman screamed and pounced on him. "Buddah! Run!" The man screamed. Cooper bounded down the hallway towards a breeze he could feel from farther down._

_He found the screen door to the outside open and burst out into the desert streets. A second roar came from the side and he yelped, turning in the other direction. He ran as fast as his canine legs could carry him, which was, thankfully, a lot faster than that of a person, or of a zombie. Cooper could feel the cloud of gas trailing after him and he frantically tried to pick up his pace, to stay out in front of it. He managed to pull ahead, racing farther out into the desert. He passed by two, lone, travelers and flinched when, out of the corner of his eye, they fell to the ground, screeching in pain. _

_He saw the gun-tower in the distance and heard the girl stir behind him, she got up, screamed and began to chase him down. She was fast, but Cooper was faster, if only slightly. _

_He reached the gun-tower first and heard bullets raining down from above him. A man in uniform opened the door for him and he raced past and up the stairs to the top level. A second man in uniform saw him there and shushed him, then pushed him into a room and closed the door. Then Cooper sensed it. The gas had reached the compound. He heard the man who had helped him, scream out in pain. Cooper laid down his head and covered his ears with his paws. Praying for somebody to save him._

Michel was the first person up the next morning. He jumped in the shower and brushed his teeth before throwing on the leather jacket and his purple polo. He slipped into his jeans and breathed a long sigh, grabbing his automatic shotgun, he pulled the curtains.

Jocelyn roused from her spot on the floor, immediately on alert. She was wearing her original clothing, but she carried her new clothes with her into the bathroom to shower. She got out, brushed her teeth, changed and exited, grabbing her shotgun from the radiator and cocking it.

Sarah and Kyle woke simultaneously, they both started for the shower and he beckoned for her to go first. She nodded and walked in, then came back out and pulled on a pair of leather pants and a biker jacket over a white blouse. She pocketed her pistol and moved to Braxton.

Kyle re-entered the room in the same cloths he'd been wearing since he started his journey, plus his new hoodie. He picked up the second pistol in one hand, and then picked up a candlestick with his other.

Peters exited a third room in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. He walked into the hotel room and folded his arms, nodding.

Cooper stretched out and yelped once, causing Peters to back up. Sarah and Jocelyn supported Braxton and walked him out of the room.

"Let's fuck some shit up," Kyle said and kicked down the door.

* * *

Domino got up from his chair and gripped his shotgun and dropped a pipe bomb in his pocket. He put his jacket on over his old cloths and brushed his tongue against his un-brushed teeth, shuddering in repulsion. He cocked his gun.

Jon rose and picked up the uzi by the dead bodies, which had started to smell. With no blood, they hadn't begun to change. Jon held the gun awkwardly and exited the office, moving towards the exit instead.

Aaron shuddered awake and glanced down at his forearm. Daphne was asleep on it and it had fallen asleep. Aaron gently moved her and she awoke. Her business cloths matching nicely with his formal-casual wear. They both rose and she picked up the two black and silver pistols. Aaron grabbed his trusty Assault Rifle and dragged Daphne to the exit where the other two stood.

"Let's fuck some shit up," Domino said and kicked down the door.

* * *

"He's yours," Sarah said and passed Braxton over to the only unarmed member of their group. Peters held him nervously.

"And if you don't keep him alive, I'll put a bullet through your skull," Michel threatened, putting the shotgun to Dr. Peters head for emphasis.

"I've got it, just get me to the hospital," he said.

Kyle led the charge, kicking open the lobby door. A zombie, just outside of it saw him and ran forwards. Kyle swung his candlestick, spinning the zombie's head to the side, then twisted and shot it through and through the side of the head.

He walked down the street, towards the massive illuminated building in the distance. Mercy Hospital. Jocelyn and Sarah behind him, Michel behind Peters and Braxton.

* * *

Daphne walked out into the street, Aaron by her side. Jon and Domino walked beside them.

"Let's cut through the ally," Jon suggested.

"That's the first good idea you've had in a while," Aaron said and then followed him.

Several dead bodies littered the pavement as they entered. A puddle of ooze surrounded them, the greenish slime of zombie, tinged with the cold red blood of people.

Jon held a flashlight shakily, duct taped to the top of his gun. It illuminated an outstretched claw as they passed.

"Hold up." Aaron raised a hand and knelt down. "Ain't seen anything like this before," he said, dipping his fingers in the substance. He rubbed it between his forefinger and thumb, fascinated.

"Jeez, don't let that stop you from smearing it all over yourself." Domino grimaced, disgusted.

Aaron glared at him and stood. "They're changing," he said and wiped the slime on the older man's jacket, smiling as he turned away. Domino jerked away.

"God damn it Aaron!" he said as the teen walked away, taking point. "Aww, it stings!" he said, trying to wipe it off of himself. Jon chuckled too and Domino glared at him.

A sudden crying sound filled the air and Aaron stopped, looking around, racking his brain for something that he felt he was forgetting. He turned to a door to his right where the noise was emanating. Crying, that was the tell of a witch, but it sounded younger than that.

"Someone's still alive," Daphne said and walked forth, bypassing the other two men. She and Aaron opened the door slowly, it creaked and gave way to pitch blackness.

"Over there," Aaron said and crouched, walking forwards.

Daphne flicked a switch, illuminating the flashlight setting of her pistols, shining it into the room. "Hello?" Daphne said. Her flashlight illuminated boxes, but nothing else, and since the sun had yet to rise, late because of the recent solstice, there was no other external light source. "Hello?" The pair moved farther into the building. "It's okay, we're gonna –" Daphne started, but lightning flashed, illuminating the room. The witch was shown and Aaron pushed her lit gun down, aiming the pool of light south.

"Lights off," he whispered urgently.

Back outside, Jon stood guard at the door, alone, his flashlight shining against the brick wall opposite him. A ravenous growl reached his ears from the end of the alleyway and he turned, panicked. Zombies began to appear out of a sudden fog, running straight at them."Oh, shit," he said. "Shit! Shit!" he yelled and Domino appeared, firing off a round of shotgun shots into the crowd. Justice ran to the door and shone his light in. "They're coming!" he screamed, his light shining past the other two and straight onto the Witch. She looked up and screamed. "What the –"

"Run like hell!" Daphne commanded and sprang from the building.

Aaron fired a single shot at the woman-zombie before escaping after her. The Witch rose and began to run at them. Jon shouldered the door closed determinedly and she pounded against it, making first one dent, then a second, and with a third hit, broke her arm through the steel.

Jon backed away from the door, screaming, as the arm flailed around trying to reach him. He began to fire blindly at the appendage with his uzi.

Beside him, Aaron and Domino were side by side, shooting into the oncoming troop. A particularly fast zombie ran forwards and the bigger of the two men pushed it back with his gun and shot it. Aaron turned and shot an approaching female infected in the face, over Daphne's head.

"Do you not die?" Jon screamed and focused his ammo more directly.

"Stick together!" Domino yelled, Daphne on one side, Aaron on the other. The Witch's arm finally fell limp and Jon re-loaded and moved to join them. A Smoker landed on a piece of scaffolding behind them and reached out, wrapping around Aaron and pulling him backwards. He yelled out in surprise.

"Hang on!" Domino yelled as Aaron was raised into the air. He aimed and shot the creature above them and Aaron fell back to the ground. Daphne shot off repeatedly into the approaching infected.

"Guys," she called back. Domino helped Aaron to his feet and shot at an approaching zombie while the teen tried to cough the smoke back out of his lungs. Without missing a beat he cocked his gun and shot a zombie racing towards them from the other direction.

"Merry Christmas," he said. They moved back to join the group as the throng of incoming infected doubled.

"Fire in the hole!" Daphne yelled suddenly, taking a pipe bomb from her pocket. She threw it, high and hard, over the enemy heads and out into the street. The foursome ducked behind a dumpster and covered their heads as the zombies coursed towards the beeping device. It exploded as Jon rose to his feet, causing him to stumble, but he caught himself as a helicopter passed by overhead, shining a light down at them.

"Hey!" he yelled as a Hunter jumped from building to building, following him as he ran from the other three, heading blindly after the rotary machine. "We're over here!" He waved his gun in the air, to no avail. "We're not infected! Down here!" he screamed.

The helicopter, unfortunately, outpaced him then, and left him behind. He slowed to a halt in a new street. "Damn it!" he said. Behind him, the Hunter crawled out and stared ahead. It jumped and he turned, terrified, at the sound of its battle cry. He was knocked to the ground and it began to rip at his skin. He screamed, trying to fight it, but to no avail.

Daphne materialized next to them, line-backer tackling the zombie off of her comrade, without pausing Daphne whipped out her pistols and shot it repeatedly until it was backed against a car. Jon pulled out a pistol of his own, much weaker than Daphne's own, but effective.

He shot from the ground and pulled off a quick headshot and as the shot hit, the fiend fell backwards, it landed on the Chevy, setting off the obnoxiously loud car alarm. Aaron came out of the ally.

"Oh, this is gonna get bad." He frowned and held his weapon at the ready. Domino arrived and followed his lead as the melodic shrieking of infected filled the air.

The four of them got into a diamond figure and their foes appeared, and in bulk. There was a moment of silence in which nobody spoke or even fired, while the zombies came closer and closer, from all sides. Spilling out of other streets and allies and even scaling a chain-link fence that separated one business property from another.

Domino's eyes widened as a car flipped into the air in front of him, accompanied by a cacophonous roar. It crashed over other infected and whistled past Daphne's ear, eventually slamming into the fence in front of Aaron. The Tank emerged into view, smashing other infected against the concrete as it ran.

"Run or shoot?" Jon asked, backing away. He received no answer as he continued to walk backwards. "Run or shoot?" he yelled.

"Both!" Aaron yelled and took off.

They ran down a second alleyway, directly across from the one before, firing back as zombies followed them, forced to thin themselves, being too great in number to enter simultaneously.

The Tank slammed past other zombies, entering the passage. Infected began to filter in from the other side, trapping the quartet like sand in an hourglass.

"To the roof!" Jon pointed as they neared a piece of scaffolding.

"Go! Go! Go!" Domino yelled, stopping to shoot back at the oncoming Tank.

Daphne jumped onto the ladder first, scaling it quickly. Jon followed her.

"Come on! Come on!" Domino yelled back at the Tank. It roared towards him, throwing a common infected at him and knocking him down. Aaron turned while the Tank raised his elephantine arms, prepared to crush the living beneath him.

Focussing on his head, Aaron's shots were enough to make the Tank stumble backwards. It roared and re-focused its attention on him, swinging its arms. Aaron ducked and the fists went whistling past him, into, and through, a brick wall.

Daphne and Jon stood on the second level of scaffolding, but Daphne began to climb to the third quickly when the Tank picked up a piece of cement. Domino began to climb, leaving Aaron alone on ground level, shooting angrily.

"Heads up," Jon yelled, dodging the block. It bounced off of his level, falling towards the ex-teacher, who jumped out of the way in time to avoid being crushed.

An infected snuck up swiftly on Aaron and poised to kill, but Daphne, from three levels of scaffolding up, managed a head shot. Aaron looked up briefly.

"Go on!" she yelled. "I'll hold them off!" She shot down at them and Aaron leapt onto the ladder, climbing swiftly. The Tank, enraged, lumbered forwards, jumping and mangling the entire first level of metal. Adam jumped to the second ladder quickly and scaled his way up to the next level. The Tank fell, but jumped again, bringing down the second level while Aaron reached the third, then grabbed it. Aaron stumbled backwards, arms flailing, but caught himself. Jon, on the roof, reached out his hands and Aaron grabbed for them, holding on tightly as his cousin pulled him over.

Daphne fiercely continued to shoot down at the Tank, even as her platform shook, but as it made another jump, twisting it again, she stumbled. One of her pistols fell into the hoard and she stumbled but then dove forwards. The Tank jumped for a final time, ripping down the third level atop himself, Daphne found herself suspended in mid-air and reached out a hand.

"Domino!" she yelled and he too dove, grabbing her arm in his large hands, and bringing her quickly over onto the roof. They watched as the Tank fell to his death. They all sat down, breathing deeply.

"We made it." Jon wheezed, laughing slightly. "I can't believe we made it!"

"No, we just crossed the street," Aaron dead-panned. "Let's not throw a party 'til we've reached Mercy." He got up and walked away, towards a make-shift camp that had been built recently, and then abandoned. The others followed gradually.

* * *

Sarah marched forwards, passing by Kyle, raising her pistol and shooting out into an alley close by. A zombie that had just been exiting it fell back, dead, from the impromptu head-shot.

"Nice shot …" Braxton smiled bleakly, trying in vain to walk on his own two feet. Peters stood under his left arm to stabilize him.

"Thanks." She grinned. "I try."

A gurgling noise filled the air and Kyle stopped, being the only person who knew the game well. "Boomer," he said and strafed around, bypassing three alleyways. The Boomer was nowhere to be found. It growled again, louder this time. "It's getting closer." The group spread apart, hunting down the engorged zombie.

Jocelyn walked into a shadow and turned, frightened. The Boomer was there, atop a hotdog stand, its weight causing the vendor to dent. It roared and opened its mouth wide.

"Watch it!" Michel sprinted across the road, ploughing into her and knocking her aside. The Boomer bile passed over-head.

"We've got to go, now. Boomer bile attracts zombies," Kyle said. He turned and started off back down the road, doubling his pace towards Mercy Hospital. Sarah was directly behind him, then Peters and Braxton, hobbling along as fast as they could. Michel and Jocelyn rose and began to run, Jocelyn turning and shooting the Boomer in the stomach as they passed. It exploded and they ran for it, managing to avoid the vomit.

Just go!" Michel yelled when Jocelyn stopped to shoot at a solitary infected. The sounds of the hoard were getting closer and closer.

"Come on! Mercy Hospital is just ahead!" Sarah yelled back at them.

They kept on running. They ran faster and turned the corner, there, at the end of the street, was the brightly illuminated red sign that was Mercy. And between them and the hospital, was a massive hoard, all running towards the place where the dead Boomer lay; with the survivors smack dab in between them.

* * *

Daphne led the charge, a new pistol from the makeshift camp in her second hand. She laid down a heavy plank between two more buildings and she walked across them gingerly.

"Okay, I got it, its sturdy enough," she called back. "Still." They had been using the same long wood to cross across the tops of the buildings, rather than take the streets.

"All right, Aaron, you're up," Domino said, speaking to the second lightest of the group.

"Okay." Aaron held his arms out from his sides and began to walk across. It creaked lightly with his increased weight, but stood fast.

"Come on," she said, beckoning him.

He moved lightly and reached the other side swiftly.

"Okay, go on, Jon," Adam said.

Jon nodded and began to walk across. The plank bent heavily in the middle, but still maintained its rigor. "I'm good," he said once he had reached the other side. "Go on, Mr. Domino," he yelled across.

"All right," The teacher said. He bounced lightly on the end of the board before leaping forwards, jumping limberly so as not to have too much of his muscle weight at certain points. The plank creaked but he still reached the other end.

"Come on, we've only got like, three more buildings to go," Aaron said.

"Hey, there's a piece of pipe here!" Jon said, lifting it up and dragging it over. "I don't think the wood will cross the whole distance."

"You're probably right," Domino said. He slammed the thin wood into the opening in the end of the pipe and laid it across. "You go first again, Daphne," he suggested.

"All right," Daphne said, stepping one foot in front of the other. The plank wiggled first but she reached the pipe at mid-point easily. Daphne screamed and lost her balance, slipping off of it, but she managed to catch herself before she fell to her death.

"Daphne!" Aaron said and started out onto the plank. He kneeled down and grabbed her wrist, pulling her up. The wood began to back out of the hole due to the jerking movements from above. He heaved her up and she crawled the rest of the way, with him following close behind.

"All right, be careful when you go." Domino nodded at the teen in front of him.

"Got it," he said and started across. The wood began to splinter and crack. He shivered.

The wood backed out until it was balancing precariously on the precipice of the pipe.

"Careful …" Daphne said, but even as she said it, the materials fell away, and with them, Jon.

"No!" Jon screamed all the way to the street floor, until the back of his head hit concrete and his blood spattered. His body disappeared then, into a throng of the un-dead as they bent to feast upon his remains. The other three stared in shock and surprise.

"He's …" Daphne sputtered. "He's dead." Aaron's eyes clouded over as an old piece came into his head. Without realizing he was speaking, he did just that.

"The lantern bearer lights the way, for those who no more seize the day. Blind eyes peer out from every head that crowds the carriage of the dead," Aaron recited ominously, whispering.

* * *

Alright, I wrote this at the time, but I might as well write it down here too. Comment! Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what you think of Aaron, Daphne, Domino, Kyle, Braxton, Jocelyn, Sarah, Michel, Peters and Cooper. Who do you think is next to die? Who do you think will make it until the end? Tell me readers! I want to know! Thanks! P.S. What do you think of Jon's death? Vivian's? Matt's? Hell, Wise Woman Forsyth's? Tell me anything!


	6. Mercy Hospital

Alright, so this is my favourite chapter of anything that I've ever written, and I believe the longest one yet! Please review the fruits of my labour, I'd really appreciate it, and it won't inconvenience you to take 2 minutes out of your day. Even a 'nice job' would be appreciate.

I don't own Left 4 Dead, but the characters ARE mine.

* * *

Michel held his weapon tight, the automatic shotgun coming close to physical pain. The four of them stood strong against the wall, preparing themselves as it came closer. Peters, Braxton and Cooper had been sent away, due to their relative uselessness in battle. Kyle, Sarah, Jocelyn and he were poised, ready to strike, ready to kill.

Jocelyn raised her gun and shot the first swarm of bullets. Three zombies that were leading the charge ran right into them, one falling dead and the other two becoming furious.

Michel finished them off with two shots from his own automatic shotgun. A Boomer marched forwards, unseen, and pulled back, then spewed outwards, coating the backs of the four survivors.

Sarah gasped and clutched the back of her head in a feeble attempt to wipe away the vomit. The zombies who had not been attacking them, choosing instead to run towards the hotdog cart, stopped, changing targets.

Kyle shot down three zombies and then crushed in the skull of a fourth, he wheeled around, landing on one knee, instinctively head-shooting a Hunter, mid-leap. He grinned maniacally.

A Jockey clambered forwards, between the legs of other infected. Kyle turned around once again, inadvertently turning away from it. The fiend looked at the four survivors, debating.

Jocelyn shot into the air, cocked her gun, then shot forwards again, bringing down a Hunter and hurting three Infected.

Sarah shot the Boomer in the gut, spraying four other infected with its insides, causing some other zombies to devour them. Then she wheeled around and shot the head of another. The Jockey dove out of her line of vision.

Michel shot his gun, taking out two Infected, then, without looking, flipped his gun, cocked it, and shot behind his back, taking out two more zombies. They were getting pretty good at this, he noted, not that they had much choice but to do well.

Kyle bashed in a zombie skull with the candlestick and shot the stomach of an approaching Spitter in the same second, following up with a kick to the face of an approaching female, knocking her down, he turned and shot her in the face. The Spitter acid spilled out onto the pavement.

The blonde, the Jockey decided, was the most skilful. If he was going to help his hoard, he had to take him out.

"Kyle!" Jocelyn yelled as she turned, but it was too late, the aforementioned teen was taken out by the Jockey. It slammed into his back, grabbing onto him and latching onto his neck, steering him straight into the Spitter acid. Kyle screamed in pain, unable to move, he crouched as the pain spliced into him from his feet up, his shoes quickly beginning to melt away.

The Smoker landed hard on the scaffolding in a nearby alley. It peered forwards into the battle. The Jockey had taken out the powerhouse of the team. It noted with delight, and he had to stay like that. It was its turn to fight, the Smoker knew.

"No!" Jocelyn ran towards her team-mate, grabbing onto his arm and pulling him out of the acidic puddle. The Jockey screeched and dislodged from him momentarily to scratch her across the face. Kyle used this moment to rip it from his head, turning around to shoot it, but the Jockey only jumped back onto him, twisting his neck until he had no choice but to move or have his neck broken.

Jocelyn tried to help once again, but stopped short when a slimy tongue wrapped around her neck, dragging her backwards, through the zombies, under their pounding feet. She felt herself begin to bleed freely from multiple surface wounds. She screamed in pain, the sound dry and week sounding, due to her lack of oxygen.

"JL!" Sarah screamed and ran to help her cousin, but a Hunter dove from a building-top and tackled her to the ground, immediately beginning his attacks. She tried to block it's attacks with her forearms but it was no use.

* * *

Michel looked from side to side. Jocelyn disappeared into an alley. Kyle's shoe soles had completely burnt away and his socks were providing limited protection. Sarah's skin was beginning to bleed. However, before Michel had the chance to help anybody, they disappeared from sight, hidden in the mass of Infected, they moved in on him, and alone, he couldn't maintain and fell victim along with the others.

* * *

Kyle fell to his knees and his vision swam. With the Jockey on his back he was powerless against the zombies that attacked from above or the acid that burnt his skin from beneath. He clenched his teeth, but the hopelessness of the situation hit him like a brick, knocking his breath away. His heart panged as he thought of everybody else. His parents, probably dead. His girlfriend, also probably dead. He was an orphan in this horror land, forced to co-exist and fight alongside these people whom he barely knew. He felt tears well up in his eyes.

* * *

Sarah felt the beatings like they were Chinese Water Torture, each one more painful than the last. She wept openly. Not now. She begged. Not now, when they were so close to the end. So close to survival. The blows came, and she still felt them, but gradually they gave way to something much more painful. Emotional wounds. The pangs in her chest at the thought of her cousin, dragged away to places unknown, and how she had not been able to save the last blood tie she had on this world. Just like she hadn't been able to save Erica, too frozen in fear to move.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Daphne," Michael whispered as his eyes glassed over. The sole reason he had stuck with the group. To see his true love one last time before he died. His gun fell from his outstretched hands as yet another zombie sank their teeth into his flesh. He'd loved her, but only from afar. Was there any farther than death? He supposed not.

* * *

Jocelyn cried as black spots erupted in front of her eyes. She hadn't been able to save her family, her little brother, her mother, her father, and now, her cousin. She couldn't save Vivian. She hadn't saved Aaron, or Daphne. She couldn't even keep a dog save. She felt nothing anymore, nothing except for uselessness.

* * *

A gunshot rang out. One single gunshot, and, as if in slow-motion, the tongue holding Jocelyn had split down the middle, dropping her. She gasped in heavy gulps of air and tried to fight back. She had lost her gun in the struggle and she now had only her hands. She stared down, refusing to face her enemies, but then her vision was obscured. By a shoe. A black and blue Puma sneaker, tarnished with sand and blood.

* * *

Kyle could feel his skin bubbling, but hard as he try, with the added weight of the Jockey on his back and the acid weakening him by the second, he simply couldn't. He heard something then, a pounding of feet on pavement, different than that of the infected. The sound came closer and closer and then he was lighter. The Jockey was no longer upon him. He heard a gun go off in his ear and the childish zombie squealed in final defeat. A hand grabbed his forearm and hauled him to his feet, pulling him out of the greenish puddle.

* * *

Michel could feel the hoard beating against him, the blood ran to his ears so that all sound was blocked out. His eyes began to swell shut. Through his miniscule line of vision, a burly, tank-like figure slammed into the zombies. In his hands however, was a shotgun, and he speedily thinned the infected surrounding him, and then lifted him up, slinging the lithe boxer over his back.

* * *

Sarah began to drift into and out of consciousness. There was a sound nearby, and she grasped at the noise. It was different. She pulled herself back out of the murky liquid morphine of death. It sounded again. Closer. A bark. It was a bark. Cooper! She thought and then the Hunter was off of her, pushed to the side. She opened her eyes and saw him. His blood-stained, coal-black coat glistening.

* * *

"No way …" Jocelyn said, looking into the face of her saviour. The fully humanized Daphne held her pistols out to the side, a look of grim determination almost masking the grin of humour. She shot into the crowds approaching from both sides, forced to filter into the alleyway due to the narrow walls. Danielle managed to hold them back easily, with both of her automatic pistols. "How are you ...?" Jocelyn sputtered.

"I'll explain later, there's something we have to do here first." She gestured to the zombies.

"I lost my gun!" Jocelyn said. Daphne tossed her a pistol and dropped her bag to the floor, fishing through it for a switch-blade she'd found in a carrying bag. "Come on, you should be more used to this than me!" She mocked, giggling slightly, despite the situation.

"Yeah … well … shut up," Jocelyn said intelligently and then turned to stand back to back with her friend, eyes glinting for malice and for revenge.

* * *

"You know, you're probably the last person I expected to find traipsing around with Jocelyn," Aaron said as Kyle struggled to restore energy to his body. Aaron was talking over his back, holding the Infected off with his gun.

"You know, if everybody I meet on this trip is pissed off to meet me I might as well go off on my own," he grumbled. Aaron glanced over his shoulder, alarmed.

"I'm not pissed." He laughed. "I'm amused. I mean, who'd'a thought that both you and her would be survivors in a zombie apocalypse?"

"So it is Jocelyn?" Kyle said.

Aaron shot a Hunter on a building above then turned around and shot two infected in the head and one in the gut. "I'm not at liberty to say."

"Oh, come on! This was annoying enough when everybody was alive!" Kyle growled.

Aaron laughed. "I can't believe I'm saving your ass instead of the other way around."

"Hey now, I can handle myself just fine."

Aaron turned around and looked at the puddle of acid. "I can tell," he said laughing.

"Okay, bad example, but I managed to survive, what, almost five days already. On my own for the first two," he pointed out. "And from what I hear, you had other people to help you since the beginning."

"Well nobody's helping me now and I'm managing just fine," Aaron retorted. "Speaking of which –" He kicked Kyle's fallen pistol over to him.

"I can't use this, it's out of ammo," Kyle noted.

"There's probably something in my backpack," Aaron said, shrugging it off. Kyle cursed. In their haste to leave the last morning, they had forgotten the packs in the hotel.

"This'll do." Kyle's eyes glinted as he pulled out the hefty butchers knife.

"I swear to God, if you chop my fingers off –"

"Relax, I'm not clumsy." He paused. "Well, sometimes …" Then he trailed off laughing internally as Aaron took three steps away.

* * *

Sarah picked up her pistol and fired, a single bullet lodged inside the skull of a sneaking Jockey. She smirked and then turned to shoot again. The gun clicked and she swore."I'm out of ammo!" she screamed. She bent into a fighter's stance and, as cheesy as she felt, managed to focus enough and fight. Three years of karate, five years of jazz and two years of gymnastics, Sarah thought something had to help her here. As she focused, the world around her seemed to slow and the enemies were much less intimidating.

Sarah started off with an uppercut to a zombie face, twisting around and kicking one between the eyes, using the momentum to spin down and twist on the ground, knocking Infected legs out of the way.

She got up and jumped forwards, pressing both of her feet against a Smoker chest and pushing backwards, twisting and landing on her hands, spinning outwards with both of her legs, smacking the Smoker's face off of its shoulders. She got up and twisted back into standing position.

Sarah jabbed an Infected man in the throat and then back-hand-sprang away from him, landing neatly on her feet and immediately performing a full spiral, leg extended, smashing into any zombies who were too close.

A Charger bellowed from nearby and did just what its name entailed, charged. It slammed through the thinning wall of zombies before her, and Sarah, too enveloped in her blood-lust to recognize its superior strength, crouched into a fighting stance again.

The Charger swung its massive arm and Sarah jumped into the air, landing on the engorged fist. Using her momentum, Sarah back-flipped, kicking the Charger in the jaw.

She landed neatly on the ground and flipped around, break-dancing slightly, and tripping the monstrosity up. It stared at her, almost in shock, as if recognizing that he was being beaten in hand-to-hand combat by a teenage girl.

Sarah pulled her hair back and twisted an elastic into it, pulling it back. She gathered strength and kicked the Charger in the face, then spun horizontally and kicked it again. As almost an afterthought, she raised a foot above her head and brought it down, snapping off the fiends smaller arm. The zombie's eyes rolled back in its head and it collapsed. Sarah stood panting.

She felt her mindset return to normal speed and she held her knees to catch her breath. She looked up as the clapping noises began. Adam and Kyle were standing to her west, Jillian and Danielle to her east. Another man with Michael on his back were standing just in front of her and Peters and Bryson were with Cooper, whose muzzle was painted with new blood, were just behind her.

"Aaron!" Sarah said, leaping into his arms.

He caught her awkwardly. "Hey!" He sounded vaguely enthusiastic, but his mind was obviously someplace else. Sarah followed his gaze around their circle and a lump formed in her throat. "Um…" He paused. Jocelyn fidgeted uncomfortably and looked like she was going to cry again. Kyle looked in another direction, not making eye-contact. Braxton pulled Peters so that he was closer to Jocelyn.

"Aaron …" Daphne said. "I think she's …"

"No," Aaron said flatly. "No, she can't be. You're over-examining things."

"No, Aaron." Sarah stood back up and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"No, Aaron nothing," Aaron said. "She's not …" He seemed incapable of saying the word, as if uttering it aloud was enough to make it true.

"She's dead, Aaron," Sarah said gently, resting a hand on his shoulder.

His throat went dry. "How do you know?" he said rudely, shrugging her hand off. "How do any of you know?" He turned angrily away and stormed off down the street. Daphne, weeping, rushed to follow him.

"Why does he care so much?" Kyle asked, confused.

"Yesterday was his and Victoria's 3 years and three month anniversary," Jocelyn explained sadly. "It's not your fault," she said to Sarah. "He's just …"

"I understand, no need to explain," Sarah said sympathetically. "I wish we could change it though." She felt tears at the corners of her eyes. "All of it."

"Yeah … but we have to keep moving. Come on, we'll get to safety first, then we'll discuss the rest," Domino said.

"Who are you?" Sarah asked.

"Prof. Domino. French teacher." He reached out a hand. Sarah shied away and started walking after the other two. Jocelyn followed, with the doctor and his charge trailing close behind. Kyle shrugged at Boudreau and they moved forwards, Cooper rubbed his face against Gilless massive palm.

"You must be the dog that Aaron found," he said, then knelt down. "Could you go cheer him up for us?" He patted him on the flank and the lab nodded, as if in understanding and ran ahead.

* * *

Aaron reached Mercy Hospital far ahead of the others, grabbing the door and pulling. They were locked.

"Fuck!" Aaron yelled and kicked a post. A straggling zombie in a security guard uniform hissed at him and Aaron shot it in the face. "Fuck you too!"

"Aaron …" Daphne said, trying to sooth him.

"Don't," Aaron said.

"Aaron, there's nothing you could've done, and even if there was, we can't change what's already happened."

"I said don't!" Aaron yelled at her. Daphne flinched but didn't back off. Aaron clutched his jacket to his face and sank down into a seated position. Daphne sat next to him, patting him on the back. Aaron, Adam began to shake with tears, gasping occasionally to get his breath back.

"She's … she's … dead," Aaron said. Daphne made shushing sounds and, as Jocelyn came closer Danielle nodded her head, meaning, not now, wait there. Jocelyn nodded and stopped.

"She's in heaven …" Daphne regretted the words immediately.

"I'm an atheist!" Aaron snapped.

"Well then she's still in your heart and in your mind."

"… I know," Aaron whispered, his brief bout of tears spent. He looked up at her, his eyes slightly red. A bark came from nearby; he looked up and past her. "Cooper!" He smiled with genuine happiness and the dog ran into his arms. He dropped his gun and held the massive canine tightly, breathing in the sickly-sweet scent of wet dog and blood.

"See, Cooper made it. And if Cooper made it, then maybe we all can make it," Daphne said.

"Viv couldn't," he sulked, but Daphne had had enough. She stood up and he looked to her in surprise.

"That's it. Enough feeling sorry for yourself! We're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Viv died for the greater good, without her you would be dead and I would be un-dead, but she wouldn't want you to sulk around practically waiting to be slaughtered!"

He opened his mouth to retort, obviously offended but she cut him off. "And I can deal with Viv being dead, and Matt being dead and everybody else being dead, but we haven't left one another yet, and if you let yourself die, I promise you I'll be the next one to go. So if you're not going to be strong for yourself, or Viv, or Cooper, do it for me." She ended her rant and Aaron looked at her in awe.

"You've never spoken to me like that before," he said.

"Yeah, well you've never needed it before."

"Thank you," he said.

"No, thank you."

"How's he doing?" Boudreau asked.

"He sounds better, but I think –"

"I'm fine," Aaron said. "I've decided that me being all pissed and sad won't help us survive."

"You decided?" Daphne looked at him. He blushed.

"Fine, we decided." She continued to look at him. "Okay, Daphne beat it into me, happy?" She smirked and nodded her head.

"Awesome, then let's go inside," Kyle suggested.

"The doors locked," Aaron said.

"But these two need to get to the hospital," Jillian said. "Do you have a key?" she asked Peters.

"I did," he said, "but I left it at the college."

"Then how are we supposed to get in?" Daphne asked. "And who are you anyways?""Doctor Peters, at your service madam."

"Please, you haven't been 'at our service' yet," Kyle pointed out. "He's a fraud and a dick," Kyle said to Daphne. She blushed.

"How did you get here?" Daphne asked him. He shrugged.

"Volleyball practice, bell went off, zombies attacked, I ran for it, got home, jacked my neighbour's sniper rifle, went building searching, found Sarah and him at the college, killed a Witch, found a car, drove away, ran out of ammo, drove to the helicopter crash site, met them, used a pistol to fight a hoard, slept in the hotel, saw him naked … gross, slept there again, came out, attracted a hoard, almost died, got saved, P.S. thanks for that, and that was where you came in."

"No problem." Aaron laughed.

"Wow …" Daphne said. "What about you?" She turned to Braxton who just mumbled something and collapsed.

"We need to get him inside!" Jocelyn insisted.

"Him too," Domino said, flipping Michel so that his head was face up. Daphne gasped.

"Michel!" She shrieked. He didn't even stir. "Oh no, this isn't good."

"Wait." Jocelyn held up a hand. She pointed around the circle counting. "Me, Domino, Michel, Daphne, Aaron, Braxton, Peters, Kyle, Cooper …" She gasped. "Where's Sarah?"

* * *

Sarah wedged herself tightly through the tiny ventilation shaft. As she went farther and farther, the walls seemed to be closing in, but she knew in her mind that that couldn't be so.

She turned a corner and finally found a metal grate beneath her, and beneath it, a rotary fan. She shivered and moved on.

"Note to self, let's not go down there," she said. Elbow over elbow, Sarah squeezed in. Her body was blocking the airflow, so the heat in the vent was steadily rising. She could feel beads of sweat break out on her forehead and arms. "Jesus, I've trapped myself in an oven," she panted.

She continued to move forwards, slowing in pace due to her tiredness. A second grate, this one pointing straight down into a lobby. She felt elation wash over her and grabbed at the metal with both hands, heaving as hard as she could with as much force as she could muster in such a small enclosure.

"No," she said. The mesh was locked in place with thick, heavy, nut-bolts. She poked her fingers through the grate and tried frantically to unscrew them. "No!" She said again, and the sound carried, even though it was just a whisper.

The heat continued to rise and Sarah's face was now soaked, so was her shirt. She fainted then. Heatstroke, what a way to go.

* * *

"Wake up," Sarah heard a voice. Murky and far away sounding. She opened her mouth groggily and she felt the cold metal of cutlery forced into it, accompanied by a disgusting wannabe-cherry flavoured liquid. She sat up sputtering, scraping her tongue with her fingernails.

"Ugh! Gross!" she complained. "Water!" She reached out and a paper cup was forced into her hand. She downed it in two gulps. "That was disgusting!"

"It woke you up though, huh?" Sarah looked up. The woman in front of her had bushy red hair that puffed out on both sides, giving her hair a rather triangular look to it. She had a rash of freckles across her nose and on her cheeks and her lips were too big for her face.

"Who are you?" Sarah backed away, immediately on guard.

"Oh, my bad. My name is Sophia Ginger," She said. Sarah couldn't help but crack a smile. "What's so funny?"

"Your name … and your hair …"

"What about them?"

"Nothing," Sarah said. "Where are my friends? Where am I?"

"You're in Mercy Hospital. I found you in the vent almost dead, from heatstroke. I brought you to an examination room." Sarah sat up. The room she was in was pretty bare.

An exam table was duct taped across one of the windows, which left two medical cabinets and the table she was seated on. The other window was intact, but Sarah had a feeling it had been blocked up before she arrived.

"Where are my friends?" she asked again. Sophia looked confused.

"What friends?"

"Thanks," Sarah said dryly. "I arrived with a big group of people. There was me, my cousin, her two best friends, a dog, a doctor, a teacher and three other boys."

"Oh my!" Sophia said and jumped down. "Such a shame you lost them," she said.

"Lost them? What do you mean?"

"Well, you don't expect me to let them in do you?" the older woman asked incredulously. Sarah looked at her blankly.

"Yes, I most definitely do."

"Well I'm sorry, but you're sadly mistaken." She laughed. "I'd rather those zombies get them than me." Her nose crinkled at the word zombie, as if she'd just smelled the most disgusting thing ever.

"Well I'm sorry, but I'm unlocking the doors." Sarah got up but the older woman ran and shut the door, locking it. "Bitch, get out of my way," Sarah said. "I appreciate the life saving, but those people are the only reason I got here in the first place. I owe them a lot more than I owe you.

"No!" she said. Sarah pulled out her pistol from her back pocket. It was empty, but the ginger-haired woman in front of her didn't know that.

"I said move," Sarah threatened. Sophia gulped.

"I said no."

"Don't make me pull the trigger."

"You wouldn't dare," she stated. Sarah lowered her gun.

"You want to test that theory? I've been fighting for my life for almost a week now, for all you know, I could very well be carrying the disease. I'm betting you haven't even had any contact with the outside world, have you?"

"No …" Sophia looked petrified now, even without the gun up.

"Then you don't know if you're actually immune," Sarah said, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Get out!" Sophia shrieked.

"No," Sarah said. Sophia began to circle the room, casually.

"What are you doing?" Sarah asked.

"Nothing. Get out now!"

"No!" Sarah taunted. "And I don't think you're one to be giving orders. I'm the one with the gun," she said.

"Not anymore," Ginger said and spun around, a cabinet open and a pistol in her hand. Without hesitating, she shot the gun.

* * *

"Was that a gunshot?" Jocelyn asked, panicked. Daphne and Kyle rose to their feet automatically. The group of them were camped out in front of the hospital. Domino had discovered the open ventilation shaft and concluded that Sarah had snuck inside.

Aaron was tending to Braxton and Michel, both of whom were in pain. Braxton's burns, however, were healing nicely. Aaron had dug out a jar of honey, pillaged from the break room at the office building, and spread it upon some of his more intense burns. He insisted that it was one of the best natural cures for burns, and Braxton did indeed agree that his pain was receding.

"Told you so," Aaron had said jokingly. Internally he was thankful for the years he'd spent studying to get into med-school.

Michel was covered in bites, scrapes and bruises.

"He's lost a lot of blood, he needs a transfusion, I suppose just feeding him the blood could work," Aaron said. Daphne blushed at this. None the less, the make-shift doctor had done what he could. He cleared any dirt or gravel from the wounds, then splashed it with water to help clean it, then slathered it too with honey.

"What's with you and that honey?" Kyle had asked.

"It speeds in the healing of wounds," Aaron had explained and sat back. "You're a doctor though, right?" He had looked Peters over.

"Yes."

"Then why am I doing this?"

"Because you didn't ask for my help," the doctor had said. Aaron had rolled his eyes.

"Was that a gunshot?" Jillian repeated, now. Aaron looked up and Domino chewed a fingernail.

"I think so," Daphne said nervously.

"We have to get in there!" Peters said fearfully, genuine concern in his eyes. Kyle stared at him.

"Since when have you cared about Sarah?" he asked.

"Who cares about your dumb girlfriend!" Peters yelled. "It's mine I care about, and I swear that if Sarah has hurt a beautiful hair on her beautiful head, I'm never going to help get these two back to health." He gestured to Braxton and Michel.

"You haven't helped me yet!" Braxton yelled at him. "In fact, you slapped me across the face!" Domino, Daphne and Aaron looked at the doctor in shock.

"Whatever, just get me in there! Who's the thinnest person with us?"

"Michael," Daphne said. "But he's, like, dead."

"I'm thin," Kyle volunteered.

"So is Aaron," Jocelyn said.

"Kyle can do it," Aaron said. "It's better if I stay with them anyways." Michel mumbled inaudibly.

"Come on then," the older man said impatiently, turning a corner and marching towards the vent. Sarah had thrown the opening on the ground.

"You want me to crawl through the vents? Towards the gunshots?" Kyle asked.

"No, I led you over here so we could chat." Peters rolled his eyes. "Of course that's what I want you to do!"

"Why not?" Kyle said grabbing onto both sides and heaving himself head-first into the metal chamber. "It's not any less crazy than what's happened so far."

"Hurry! Please …" the doctor said. Kyle was shocked by the sincerity in his voice and nodded.

"I will …"

"Good!" Peters picked up the door and slammed it back on. "And that's to make sure you don't back out!"

"Just when I was starting to not hate you," Kyle sighed and inched forwards. There was a bare path ahead of him, with no openings beneath. He moved dutifully forwards, the metal refracting the light from behind him and allowing him to see.

He turned a corner and moved forwards again, he saw an outcropping and debated on whether or not to turn, but saw that the other way was a dead-end and continued on.

"Sarah?" he called. His voice echoing around him and bounced down the ventilation system. He got no response.

"Sarah?" he yelled. A steady thumping sound reached his ears and he picked up his pace, only to find a vent leading down onto a circular fan. "Damn …" He frowned. He continued to crawl, the heat rising steadily.

"Whoa … too hot," Kyle said and crawled faster. He found the vent leading to the lobby, but it was closed. "Keep going or look for her from there?" he asked himself.

"Leave me alone!" Sarah screamed and ran directly underneath him. A pistol shot went off and Sarah crumpled, clutching her thigh. She looked into his eyes, tears in her own chocolate ones.

"Now you die." A strange woman with hair like Carrot Top walked into view. She raised the pistol and Kyle punched out the duct opening.

* * *

"So, we're down to four now, eh?" Daphne said miserably. Kyle had gone inside, and then another bullet went off.

"You don't know that," Jocelyn insisted.

"You want me to go in after them?" Aaron asked.

"No, if something did happen … I need you to stay," she said. Domino stood, glaring out into the street.

"They're coming," he said.

"Who's coming?" Daphne asked.

"The zombies," he said. Daphne stood beside him and stared out into the setting sun.

"I don't see anything," she said. He turned around.

"I know. They'll be here though," he said. "I know."

"How?" Aaron asked.

"I just do. We don't have much time, maybe two days, at most. The hoards we've faced so far are nothing compared to what's coming."

"What can we do?" Jocelyn asked.

"They're gathering," Domino said, ignoring her question. "They're waiting to attack. They can smell our blood, flowing through our veins."

"I have a theory, Aaron said nervously, clutching a small paper-note in his pocket. He had scrawled down his idea and kept it with him, lest he forget.

"What?" the larger man asked.

"I think the cure is blood," Aaron said simply. "When I woke up, in the board room, the bodies were drained of blood and, well, I think that's what cured Daphne," he said. Daphne looked away.

"Blood?" Jocelyn asked disgusted. Only Domino saw Daphne shiver uncomfortably. He turned away and acted like he hadn't.

"It makes sense," Aaron said. "The immunization is an infection of the blood cells, which leads me to believe that the blood-stream is where the virus targets, at least primarily, so replacing the blood of a victim with fresh stuff, could probably cure them." He paused and bit his lip. "In theory," he added.

"You know, that actually makes sense," Jocelyn said. Daphne said nothing.

"Daphne …" Domino whispered and she shook her head. A single tear leaked from her eye. She brushed it away hastily.

"What's wrong with Cooper?" she said instead. The big dog was scratching in earnest against the glass. Adam looked up and peered inside.

"No way …" he said.

"It's them!" Jocelyn yelled.

"Who's the woman?" Daphne asked.

"Sophia!" Peters returned excitedly.

"Your woman is shooting at our team mates, neither of whom are armed!" Domino said angrily.

"You guys!" Braxton yelled from the floor. Aaron turned, startled, he had been unaware of his being awake.

"What? Is the honey working?"

"It's not that," he said. "I think Michel's stopped breathing." Aaron grabbed the other boy and laid him down, tilting his head to the side.

"He isn't …" His eyes widened. "We need in there now!"

* * *

"Back off lady!" Kyle yelled.

"Get outside!" she yelled, gesturing towards the doors.

"Don't make me hurt you!" Kyle ground his teeth together.

"Get!"

"You shot my friend!" Kyle yelled.

"You consider me a friend?" Sarah said blearily. Her leg was losing a lot of blood and her eyes were beginning to glaze over.

"She could be contaminated!"

"So could you!"

"No I couldn't! She didn't touch me!"

"The disease is air born. Daphne told us that she saw a cloud coming after her before changing."

"You've got a zombie out there?" Sophia asked, enraged.

"No! Well, she was a zombie, I guess, she's not anymore." Sophia lowered her gun, stunned.

"There's a cure …" She let this sink in. Kyle grabbed her wrist, twisted around, slipped the gun into his own hand and elbowed her in the chin in a quick and fluid motion. She dropped to the ground.

He ran to the door and pushed it open from the inside. Peters was the first person through, completely ignoring him and running to his fallen woman. Jocelyn followed and ran towards Sarah. Braxton held onto Aaron's shoulders and Domino carried Michel inside.

"He doesn't look so good …" Kyle noted.

"He's dead," Aaron supplied.

"That explains that …"

"I can save him," Aaron insisted.

"Then let's do it." He grabbed the brunette from the bigger man and Aaron gave him Braxton.

"Peters!" Aaron yelled. The man looked over. "Where is the blood?"

"Why should I –"

"Tell me!" he yelled.

"Second floor, across from Dr. Pinchard's office."

"Thank you!" he said. Aaron nodded and sprinted, Kyle right with him.

"All right Doc, what do we do?"

"I'll need a blood bag and a cannula."

"What?"

"Never mind, just find me a blood bag, quickly. If you see any weird looking needles and tubes, bring it here," he said. Kyle ran off. Aaron took Michel and laid him out on a waiting room couch.

"What kind of blood?" Kyle asked when he returned, a cannula in hand.

"Oh God, I don't know. O negative is the most common, get it and we'll hope for the best."

"That's reassuring," Kyle said before turning and scampering back down the corridor.

* * *

"Sarah ... Sarah, can you hear me?" Jocelyn waved a hand in front of her face. Sarah smiled lazily.

"I feel fuzzy," she said.

"No, Sarah, snap out of it!" she yelled, tears in her eyes.

"Who … are you?" she asked.

"Sarah!" Jocelyn yelled. Sarah blinked lazily and her head lolled back. "Somebody find me – oh God – find something to tie around her leg. Stop the blood flow." Nobody moved. "Now!" she yelled. Daphne ran away and Jocelyn looked down at her cousin, her blood caking to her leather pants.

"Come on, Sarah!" Jocelyn yelled. "Don't die!" "Die?" Sarah looked puzzled. "I'm not … oh God, JL, don't let me …" She trailed off, gripping Jocelyn's shirt, leaving two hand prints of blood against the purple flannel.

"I won't, Sarah, I won't!" Jocelyn wept loudly and bent her head over her cousin, letting her long hair cover her face. Even Peters and Sophia stayed back, wordlessly.

"Here." Daphne returned soundlessly, startling even Cooper. She passed a stethoscope to her friend and Jocelyn wrapped it tightly at Sarah's thigh level.

"She's lost too much blood," Domino said. "She needs a …" He paused. "A …"

"Transfusion," Peters supplied.

"That."

"I know! But I don't know how to do it!" Jocelyn cried.

"Aaron and Kyle took Michael upstairs, I think that's what they're doing."

"Then help me, Daphne, help me get her up there." The two girls slung Sarah's arms over their shoulders and lifted her legs up, walking sideways. Cooper followed them and jabbed the call button on the elevator with his large paw. "Thank you," Jocelyn said.

"Here," Kyle said.

"Thanks. Grab me that stand, by the nurse's station," Aaron said and Kyle did. Aaron screwed the cannula into the opening at the bottom at the blood bag and then flipped it upside down, hooking it onto the stand, upside down. Blood began to pour down and Aaron pinched it to stop the flow.

"I think I did this wrong. Hold this while I insert the needle," Aaron said. Kyle obliged.

"Thanks." Aaron tapped on Michael's wrist and a vein became more prominent, Aaron gingerly stabbed the needle in, through the skin and into his blood-stream.

"Okay, let go," he said. They both held their breaths as the blood seeped into the boy in front of them. It stayed in and they both sighed in relief.

"You saved him." Kyle laughed. "And Peters says he's useful."

"Uh, thanks." Aaron smiled. "Let's not jinx it though, give him a while, he didn't lose too much blood."

"… he died." Kyle pointed out.

"Only for, like, a second!" Aaron protested.

"He still died …"

"He's alive now, isn't he?"

"I dunno, I'll check." Kyle bent down and held two fingers at Michael's throat. For a few frightening seconds he felt nothing, and then a beat. He broke out in a grin. "Yes, he's alive."

"Aaron!" A girl screamed as the elevator beside them dinged open.

"Why didn't we take the elevator?" Kyle asked.

"I don't know …" Aaron admitted.

"Aaron, Sarah's dying! She's lost a lot of blood and I think there's a bullet inside of her!"

"In here," Adam said, crossing and opening a door. He pulled an exam table down from a window, taking the duct tape with it. It was night time outside. "Set her down," he said and grabbed a full drawer of equipment from the cabinet.

"Who are you?" Sarah asked him.

"Just lay back, this'll hurt," he said. Jocelyn pushed her down and Daphne and Kyle glanced at one another nervously.

"Pain is bad," Sarah said firmly.

"Yes, very bad." He grabbed a pair of tweezers and a search light and examined her lower thigh. "This is really awkward, but I can't see anything with these pants on her."

"Well take them off!"

"I can't, they're too tight!" he said. Jocelyn grabbed a scalpel from a table and sawed a large square out of the leather. Aaron nodded and recommenced his examination. "I need water and a cloth or something," he said. Daphne poured out a bucket of sharp implements and filled it from the tap that was against the wall. Stainless steel, she noted. Jocelyn looked around frantically for a cloth but couldn't find one.

"I need a cloth!" Aaron demanded. Jocelyn looked close to tears. Kyle sighed and grabbed a scalpel.

"How big?" he asked.

"Like, facecloth sized."

"All right." Kyle lifted up his sweater and cut a large square out of his shirt. Daphne blushed. He handed the material to him and Aaron soaked it then cleaned the blood from the wound area.

"Thanks," he said and held the penlight closer. "I can see the bullet, it didn't go too far."

"Must not be a very high calibre pistol," Kyle noted. Aaron nodded.

"I don't want to die, Aaron," Sarah said. She seemed to be regaining and then losing her memory repeatedly.

"You won't, Sarah, but this is going to hurt … a lot." Aaron promised, inserting the tweezers. Sarah screamed in agony. One foot hit Aaron in the jaw and he growled, holding her knee to the table so that she couldn't move. Jocelyn held her upper body and Kyle pinned her other leg.

"Oh! Stop! Stop!" Sarah yelled. Aaron ignored her, besides a pang of sympathy that riddled his features, and continued to dig with his instrument. He closed around the bullet and began to pull it back out. More blood spilled out from the freshly disturbed wound.

"Got it!" Aaron said proudly, holding it up. Sarah began to breath heavily. "Gauze," Aaron said. Daphne handed him a large roll of thick looking fabric.

"Why couldn't we use that for a cloth?" Kyle asked, bewildered.

"Gauze can be irritating," Aaron explained.

"And I didn't see it," Daphne admitted."I need to cut off this leg of her pants," Aaron said. Jocelyn grabbed the scalpel again and passed it to him. He circled her leg at the top, then again at the ankle, then made a smooth cut up the middle so that the leather simply fell away.

"I feel so exposed," Sarah joked groggily. Aaron wrapped the gauze tightly around the wound and then cut it off and tied it.

"It's good, but she still needs a transfusion. What's her blood type?" he asked Jocelyn hopefully.

"Umm …" Jocelyn paused. "I know this, it isn't O ... B positive, I think."

"Okay, B positive, think Aaron …" Aaron told himself. "Kyle, look for any blood type labelled O or B, both will work."

"Positive or negative?"

"Doesn't matter, but preferably B positive." Kyle nodded and left.

"Daphne, go out and look at the stuff connected to Michel, I need you to find me things that look just like that okay? I need those things."

"Got it." Daphne left.

"She's going to live, Jocelyn, just breath," Adam suggested. Jocelyn nodded and bit her lip, holding tightly to Sarah's hand. Her breathing steadied, but it was still shallow.

"This?" Daphne asked. Kyle passed her in the doorway and looked at the arrangement of tubing connected to a needle.

"Yep," he said and passed Aaron the blood bag. "Here you go."

"Thanks. Daphne?" Adam held out his hand. Daphne passed him the cannula. He injected the needle in Sarah's wrist and then attached it to the bottom of the blood bag labelled B+.

"Perfect," he said. "I need a rack though, I'll go get it." He got up and left the room, returning moments later with the aforementioned object. He hung the bag upside down and the blood began to drain into his friend. Jocelyn cried with relief and Aaron smiled."I'm going to go and check on Braxton," he said and left.

"Jocelyn," Daphne said. "She's going to live now." Her eyes were watering.

"But I couldn't help her when she really needed me!" Jocelyn complained.

"We saved her, all of us, it wasn't just him. Without you here, she would be dead," Kyle said.

"How so?" she asked.

"You made the tourniquet," she said.

"I couldn't do anything after that!"

"JL …" Sarah said. "I have to admit, if you weren't right here, holding my hand … I don't think I would've had the will to go on." The colour was beginning to return to her cheeks, if only slightly.

"Sarah …" Jocelyn wept. Daphne wept beside her. Kyle held both of their hands tightly, in support.

"I love you Jocelyn. I'm not going to leave you," she said."I love you, too, Sarah," Jocelyn whispered and held her tightly, sobbing. Kyle let go of her hand and took Daphne from the room.

"We should give her some privacy," he said. Daphne nodded.

"You're right."

"Listen, I have to talk to you," Kyle said and took her over to a couch across from the one where Michel was hooked up.

"That girl, the one who's liked me since ninth grade," he started. Daphne looked uncomfortable.

"I need to know. Is it you?"

"Kyle, I –"

"Daphne?" a voice called out from across the room.

"Michel!" She got up and ran over to him, bending down and grabbing his hand. "How are you feeling?"

"Not bad," he said. "I feel better. My cuts seem to be healing pretty fast, and I have more energy."

"Aaron operated on you," Daphne explained.

"What?" He asked, alarmed.

"Yeah, the needle in your arm?" He looked down. "Aaron."

"Oh … well, tell him I said thanks."

"Will do." Daphne stood up. "But it's almost mid-night, I should try and help somebody set up for the night, I mean, if you sleep here, and Sarah sleeps in there, that leaves me, Kyle, Jocelyn, Aaron, Braxton, Domino, Peters and that orange haired woman to find a place to sleep."

"Wait, what orange haired woman?" Michel asked.

"The one that was here when we got here," she said.

"What?" But his eyelids began to droop.

"You're still tired, you should sleep, I'll explain everything tomorrow morning."

"All right." He yawned and closed his eyes. His breathing deepened and he was asleep almost instantly.

"Good night, Michel." She bit her lip, then kissed him on the cheek. He seemed to smile in his slumber.

"You really like him, don't you?" Kyle said, almost sadly.

"Yeah," Daphne admitted absentmindedly.

"You never answered my question."

"I'm sorry, Kyle, I totally forgot what it was," Daphne admitted. Then she yawned too. "But can it wait until tomorrow? I'm really tired."

"Yeah, okay, it can wait," he said and turned away. "I'm going to go and check on Jocelyn, okay?"

"Sounds good, I'll go down and get Domino to organize everybody or something."

"All right," Kyle said. Daphne passed him and pressed the elevator button. The doors slid open immediately and she stepped inside. She waved slightly before they closed again.

He waved half-heartedly back, sighed and returned to the operation room.

"How's she doing?" he asked, startling Jocelyn.

"Oh, she's okay," Jocelyn said. "She fell asleep, like, five minutes ago." Sure enough, Sarah was passed out in front of them, mouth open, eyes closed.

"That's good," he said and then, unable to restrain himself, grabbed her by the hand.

"Kyle, what are you doing?" Jocelyn asked, alarmed.

"I have to know, the girl whose liked me since grade nine, is it you?"

"Kyle, listen, the thing you need to know is –"

"No!" Sarah yelled in her sleep. Jocelyn jolted and turned back to her, grabbing her hand. Sarah raised an arm like she was holding a pistol. "Leave me alone!" Sarah screamed. Jocelyn grabbed her hand.

"Sarah, Sarah, I'm here," Jocelyn said, soothingly.

"JL?" Sarah mumbled in her sleep.

"It's me, I'm right here," she said. Sarah calmed down and drifted back into a peaceful sleep.

"Kyle, could you get the other bed thing down from the window?" Jocelyn asked.

"The operating table?"

"Yeah, I think Sarah would rather I stayed with her tonight."

"All right." Kyle frowned. "But you have to answer my question first."

"Look, Kyle –"

"Umm, Kyle Simons?" Domino asked, entering the room.

"What?" Kyle yelled. Domino looked taken aback.

"Domino, can you get that?" Jocelyn asked, pointing at the window.

"Sure," he said. "And Kyle, Daphne needs you downstairs."

"I'm going, I'm going," Kyle said. He left the room.

"What's his problem?" the francophone asked.

"You know, I'm not really sure."

"All righty, well I brought you two some blankets. They were in this heater thing that keeps them warm for hypothermic patients, but I figured we could use 'em." He dropped them and crossed to the window.

"Sounds good," Jocelyn said as he pulled down her soon-to-be-bed. He left her to make it up and went back downstairs.

"Sir!" the red-haired lady, whose name he had learned was Sophia, called from the stairwell. "We've prepared you a bed."

"Oh, that's really not necessary," he said.

"Nonsense," she said. Boudreau looked at her, confused. She seemed to be at least a little bi-polar. With a special hatred for the zombies. Almost greater than Dr. Peters. Apparently, Sophia had worked as a receptionist at the hospital for almost two years now.

"Okay then." He followed her down the stairs into the lobby. Kyle passed with blankets, mumbling something about never being able to get a straight answer, and Aaron helped Braxton to his feet, leading him to a couch in the lobby. Kyle passed him a blanket.

"You know, don't you," Kyle said. It was a statement, not a question.

"Know what?" Aaron feigned indifference.

"Who the girl is."

"Kyle, you know I can't tell you. I couldn't tell you three years ago, and that hasn't changed."

"Why not?" Kyle yelled. "Everything else has!" He gestured widely around at the sparse hospital. According to Sophia, few people were working the day of infection, several gone home for Christmas break, and it was lunchtime, so it was really only her and five others who stayed. Peters, herself, two of the cleaning crew and the head of hospital's doors and windows were all sealed, to prevent cold from seeping in, but the cleaning crew went out for a smoke break, and from the other side of the glass, Peters and Sophia had watched them turn into zombies. The security guard had been paroling outside at the time as well. Peters said that he would go look for help and then return for her.

"Because I can't," Aaron said. "Now my girlfriend just died, at least you have options, so can this wait until tomorrow at least?" he pleaded.

Kyle took a deep breath. "Yes, I'm sorry, I forgot about her." He moved away.

Aaron turned back to Braxton. "How you feeling?"

"Much better, Doc!" he said enthusiastically.

Aaron yawned. "That's good, I'm tired. Night."

"Night," Braxton said and settled down to sleep.

Aaron walked into the closest office. 'Dr. Bonnafonte,' the door read. Daphne walked in and handed him a warm blanket, then left. He called a thank you after her before settling down in the massive armchair.

Daphne continued walking down the hallway. That left her, Kyle and Domino, she listed mentally. Peters and his woman were sharing an office on the third floor for the night. Daphne shuddered with repressed repulsion.

"Daphne?" Domino said, tiredly.

"Oh hey! I brought you a blanket," she said.

"Oh, I already have one. I just thought you should know, Kyle's already settled in across the hall, but there's another office closer to the lobby, right behind the reception desk, you can sleep there."

"Oh, okay, thanks," she said brightly, he nodded and returned to his room. Closing the door he walked over to a leather couch and curled up, falling asleep instantly.

* * *

_Francois Domino yawned as he closed the door to the fridge. It was a Friday, but it was also Christmas break, so he didn't have to head into work. He picked up his carton of milk and drank from it, then he put it back in and looked around to ensure he hadn't been seen. _

"_Aah," he said._

"_Daddy!" a shrill, little girls voice called from upstairs. _

"_What sweetie?" he called back. _

"_Daddy, I'm too hot."_

"_Do you want me to turn the heat down?" he asked as he came upstairs._

"_No, it's hot," she said._

"_Do you want me to crack a window?" he asked._

"_Yes please," his daughter said. _

_He smiled when he walked into her room. It was a warm, winter day in Canada, around 10 degrees, which was really quite good. There was no harm in opening the window, just a crack, he decided. _

"_Hon?" his wife called from the kitchen he had just vacated._

"_Yes?" he called back down._

"_Did you drink the milk from the carton again?"_

"_Umm …" He paused. How did she always do that?_

"_Francois!" she yelled as he opened the window. "How many times have I told you not to do that? And the example you set for our children! What if you were sick? Huh?" But then she stopped. Francois checked his watched absently. 11:11._

"_Sorry honey, I won't do it again. I love you," he called down. "Yes, we love Mommy, don't we? Even when she's having her time of the month." He turned back to his daughter and recoiled in surprise._

_Where his daughter had been laying, moments before, surrounded by My Little Pony bed dressings and teddy bears, was a beast. Small and elf-like in appearance. The monster had long talons and even longer arms. Its lower half was hidden beneath the comforter, but its torn jaw smiled menacingly. _

"_What have you done to my daughter?" Francois yelled at the creature. The Jockey hissed and leaped at him. Francois grabbed a lamp from the bedside table and flung it around, beating the zombie out of the air. It crashed into the wall and sank down to the floor, eyeing him angrily. _

_The teacher left the room, backing into the hallway._

"_Honey!" he called out. "Tracy?" He got no response, save for a steady sobbing sound coming from the kitchen. Domino closed the door to his daughter's room, locking whatever had replaced her inside._

"_God damn it, Tracy, answer me!" Francois charged down the stairs and turned the corner. He stopped at the kitchen entrance. "Tracy?" he whispered to the pale, thin haired woman in front of him, crouch on the floor. He reached out a hand, but a voice in his head told him not to touch her, not to startle her. _

_The phone started to ring and Tracy looked up, red-eyed and furious. Her husband dove out of the way while she tore forwards, attacking their landline, breaking into little pieces and throwing them around the room. _

'_This game, it's called _Left 4 Dead.'

_A conversation from a while back entered his brain. His student, Bryan Robertson, was in front of him. _

'_Basically, you play these four people, Zoey, Bill, Francis and Louis. In the second one it's Nick, Rochelle, Coach and Ellis.'_

'_Okay?' Domino had said. 'What does this have to do with anything?'_

'_You didn't read the article? It's connected to 2012. I guess, it's like a prediction. The worst zombie is the Witch, she just sits there and cries, but if you startle her, she's bloodthirsty.'_

The game really was a prophesy?_ Boudreau thought. Now, replaying the scene in his brain, he understood. From Aaron and Daphne's theory, he understood._

_Sadly Francois turned and left, the closest he'd ever come to crying in 40 years, he left his family behind, and ventured out into the world of the damned._

I know that one was very cliche, but I like it anyways! Read and review please!


	7. Bonds Of Blood

This is it. The final chapter. I'd like to think this story was more popular than it was, but oh well. Read, and enjoy, that's all I can ask. I don't own L4D, just these characters.

* * *

"What do you want?" Aaron mumbled sleepily, curled in his blankets.

"Wake up, we're going to make everybody breakfast!" Jocelyn insisted. "They haven't had a real meal in, like, a week."

"But that'd mean getting up," Aaron said crankily.

"Come on," Jocelyn pleaded. She couldn't keep the hint of fear out of her voice and Adam nodded, understanding. The cooking was a distraction for Jocelyn, a way to get her mind off of her new found orphan-status, or how her cousin had almost died the night before.

"Fine … let me shower first though."

"Shower?"

"Yep, third floor and fourth floor. The patients who have to stay overnight have showers in their rooms. I'd go to the fourth floor though, most of the third floor is under construction."

"Good plan," Jocelyn said. "We'll start with that."

Aaron unravelled himself from his blankets and stared sleepily at her, scowling. She giggled.

"You have really bad bed-head," she said, then left the room.

Aaron self-consciously ran a hand through his hair, attempting futilely to flatten the unruly mess. "Shut up," he mumbled and followed her out, after pulling on the pair of jeans and the t-shirt. He carried his jacket along behind him, letting one sleeve drag along the ground like a teddy bear.

Half an hour later, the pair of them were standing in the middle of the massive kitchen, gloves donned and aprons on.

"Why are we wearing these?" Aaron asked.

"Because they're cool!" Jocelyn insisted.

"Fine!" He laughed, "Good enough reason for me."

"What should we make …?"

"Fail …"

"Shut up!"

"Eggs?"

"Sounds good."

Jocelyn laughed. Aaron walked to the massive fridge and grabbed two cartons.

"I hope they like scrambled eggs," he said. "I'll crack 'em, you scramble 'em?"

"All righty."

Aaron took a small metal bowl and opened the carton. He grabbed an egg, cracked it over the edge and opened it, one-handed.

"How did you do that?" Jocelyn asked, taking the bowl from him and grabbing a whisk.

"Do what?" he asked, cracking another egg with a single hand.

"Open the eggs with one hand."

"Oh, it was on TV once, and I was like, I wanna do that, so I kept practicing until I managed."

"Cool."

"No, it was a lot to try and clean up afterwards." He laughed and cracked a third egg.

"How many of these are we doing?"

"Uh …" Jocelyn held up her hands and ticked off people. "Me, you, Sarah, Daphne, Braxton, Cooper, Michel, Kyle, Peters and Sophia. Is that everybody?"

"Domino."

"Right, Domino. So that's, like, eleven people?"

"Yep." Aaron nodded. "Hurry up, JL, you're slacking off with that whisking business over there."

"You know what?" she said. "You hush."

"Oh! I'm so scared," Aaron said, laughing.

"You should be!" Jocelyn said, grabbing one of the bowls of egg.

"And why's that?" he asked.

"Because." She picked it up and, as he turned away, poured the yoke over his head. He tensed as it rolled under his shirt and down his back.

"You bitch!" he said in surprise, not insultingly though. "It is so on!"

"Come on!" Jocelyn grabbed two more bowls and Aaron grabbed the egg carton. He picked one up and held it over her head, then brought it down, cracking it on her head, it dripped down her face.

"Hah!"

" Ah!" Jocelyn threw a bowl at him and hit his shoulder.

"That's so cold!" he said.

"I know!" Jocelyn said and threw the other one. Aaron ducked it and threw an egg, then a second. The first one hit her in the chest, splitting open and dripping down her shirt, the second one missed entirely and hit Daphne, who had just entered, in the face. Aaron and Jocelyn paused, mouths open in blissful shock.

"Oh hell no!" Daphne said.

"Daphne, you're not black!" Jocelyn laughed.

"She's, like, a white Beyonce." Adam grinned. "Or a female Eminem."

"What are you doing?"

"… making breakfast?" Adam supplied.

"Well how about some pancakes." Daphne dug her hands in the bag of flour set on a moving cart beside the door, taking out two thick handfuls. She threw them both. Aaron ducked one, but Jillian, behind him, caught it right in the face.

"Hah!" Daphne said.

"Not cool!"

Aaron laughed, then threw another egg at her, she cringed and it hit her on the waist.

Jocelyn, now out of bowls of yoke ran to the fridge and picked out a massive metal bowl of pudding. She grabbed a spoon and flung it at Aaron, hitting him in the back.

"Ouch!" he yelled and turned back to her.

Daphne biffed another handful of flour at him. He swore. The three of them backed away from one another and began biffing food products every which way, ducking others in an all out food fight.

"What are you guys – Whoa!" Kyle entered and slipped on a puddle of spilled pudding. He landed hard and the others stopped.

"Umm …" Aaron said.

"Oops …" Jocelyn smiled at him.

"What are you doing?" he asked. But he was smiling. I suppose in a new world that was so bleak, it was nice to see people having fun.

"We were making breakfast …" Aaron licked a bit of pudding off of his chin. "But then JL threw egg at me, so I threw egg at her, then Daphne got hit, and this happened."

"Maybe you should finish cooking." Kyle laughed. "Before Peters and Sophia catch you and start shooting the place up."

"Good point," Daphne said and moved to help the other two. Their hair was smeared with egg and flour and other assorted volatile food products, including ketchup and chip dip.

"We'll finish up, just – uh – don't let anybody come in here." Aaron looked around. Some food even clung to the ceiling.

"Sure thing. Even if none of you told me what I wanted to know yesterday." Kyle rolled his eyes and left the room.

"What's going on in there?" Sophia stormed up to him in a bright pink bathrobe. He looked away.

"Nothing, but you really need to tighten that," he said. She looked down.

"Oh …" She turned around and opened it, then closed it tighter and tied it.

"What the …?" Domino asked. He had just exited his room, which was directly across from the two of them. "Not what I wanted to see first thing this morning."

"Oh?" Sophia put a hand on her hip. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing!" Domino said.

"He thinks you're ugly and unappealing," Kyle supplied, managing to smother a smile.

"That's such a mean thing to say!" she shrieked, staring at the bigger man.

"What? I didn't say it!" Francois pointed at Kyle.

"He doesn't see what Peters sees in you. He thinks he could do better by fucking a zombie." Kyle nodded intelligently.

"Ouch, that's just unnecessary," she said. "I didn't spend four years as a plumber for this!" she yelled and ran at Domino, pointing her bony index finger into his chest repeatedly.

'I hate you,' Domino mouthed over her head.

"You lumbering, oafish beast! Who gives you the right?" she yelled at him. He walked away from her, shaking her head. "Hey! I'm not done talking to you!"

"That was different …" Michel said, walking up to him.

"Hey! You're alive!" Kyle said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Yep." Michel nodded. "Breathing and everything."

"No shit."

"Daphne and them are in the kitchen, safely making breakfast."

"Safely?" Michel asked. There was a massive crash from behind the doors.

"Maybe not." They looked inside.

"Daphne blew up the microwave," Jocelyn said.

"I did not!" Daphne said, looking up. Grime covered her face. Aaron coughed and reached inside the machine with an oven mitt, grabbing the bowl she'd placed inside.

"Daphne you microwaved a fork," he said simply.

"Oh …"

"What's going on in here?" Peters barged inside, the doors swung in though, so Kyle hastily pushed it back.

"Nothing!" he yelled out. Aaron and Jocelyn looked at one another. He grabbed a cloth and threw her a mop.

"Daphne, help me with the floor. Michel help Kyle keep him out," Jocelyn said.

Adam grabbed a garbage bag and quickly tossed in eggshells and jars of empty food that littered the counter, then scraped in as many other things as he could. He proceeded to scrub down the counters and then tossed the cloth in the sink.

Jocelyn and Daphne pushed all of the food products that littered the floor into a pile in the middle of the room, then scooped it up and into a trash bag.

"Let me in!" Peters yelled, shoulder-checking the door.

"In a minute," Michel yelled back.

"Okay we're good," Daphne said.

"What are you brats doing!" Peters stormed in and looked around.

"What does it look like we're doing? Gangbanging?" Kyle rolled his eyes.

"Well … No … er … I wouldn't put it past you!"

"Gross!" Daphne said. Michel laughed.

"Oh, you know you'd love it Daphne," he said.

"I would not!"

"Is that microwave smoking?"

"No," Jocelyn said, casually moving so that she blocked his view.

"Yes it was! It was smoking!"

"All right, I think the stress of zombie apocalypse is getting to somebody," Aaron said and took the doctor by the arm. "We're just gonna go lay you down, okay?" He led him out the door awkwardly with Peters sputtering 'but' 'smoke' 'brats and 'gangbang' every few minutes.

"He's an odd fellow …" Jocelyn noted.

"Yes. Yes he is." Michel agreed.

Sarah woke up, dazed but refreshed. She looked around at her room. She was alone in the room, but flashes of the night before flitted into her mind gradually.

Getting shot. Kyle coming out of the vent. Jocelyn and Daphne grabbing her. Aaron stabbing her with a needle. That terrible dream of Erica. Then nothing.

She got up, shaking her head to clear it. Sun was shining in through the windows, glinting off of the snow. A good day for December. She noted. She turned away, crossing to the door.

"Hello?" she asked, sticking her head out the door. She looked at the clock mounted on the wall. 2:30. "I slept late," she noted. Turning, she found the larger man in their group, Mr. Domino, standing facing the road through the glass wall at the end of the hallway. He didn't seem to notice her.

"Hello?" she repeated, walking down towards him. He still didn't turn. "Mr. Domino?" She reached out to tap him on the shoulder, but something caught her attention from the side. She turned.

A Hunter was there on the street, staring up at him. It didn't attack, and it's eyes were hidden beneath the hood, but they still seemed to pierce their souls.

"They're getting closer. The hoard. Their bigger than the others. Stronger too. They know where we are. They're going to come for us," he said. Sarah looked at him, half-awed by the old, worn, knowing tone in his voice, and half sceptical.

"But, they can't think. They're animals."

"No they aren't," Boudreau said sadly. "They know exactly what they're doing, and they know exactly what they need. Blood." The Hunter just stood there, staring without really staring.

"How long do we have?" Sarah asked softly, after a long period of silence.

"A day. At most."

"Then we have to prepare," Sarah said.

"Yes. We do." He beckoned for her to follow him and left.

* * *

"Okay," Domino said, standing in front of everybody in the cafeteria. "Now that everybody is washed and fed, etcetera, etcetera, it's time to explain why I've called this meeting."

"Go on then," Peters said.

"Shut up," Braxton retorted. "Let the man speak."

"Thank you," he said. "I have no explanation except for a really strong, gut feeling, but the zombies are plotting against us. They're planning a massive attack, because they're senses have been heightened and they can smell our blood."

"That's creepy …" Daphne said.

"No shit," Aaron whispered back, gulping.

"I predict that we've got until tomorrow morning to prepare for the fight, and then we'll be hit with a hoard far greater than the others."

"What are we supposed to do about it?"

"Good question Peters." He glared at him. "I want you and Sophia to start researching a cure. We've got all these supplies, utilize them."

"Hello?" a voice called out suddenly. The door opened and a petite red-haired woman entered. Everybody stared at her. "Umm … can you help me?" she asked.

"Umm, yah, sure," Domino said and walked over to her. "We're all survivors … well, obviously. I'm Francois," he said lamely.

"I'm Aaron," he said, waving his hands.

"Daphne," she said shyly.

"Michel."

"Kyle."

"Braxton."

"Sarah."

"Jocelyn."

"Doctor Peters."

"Sophia."

"And this is Cooper." Aaron scratched the big dog, who was laying on the table, inching closer and closer to Aaron's discarded bowl of eggs.

"Oh, hello. My name is Michelle." She smiled nervously. She was old, maybe 60 or 70. With wispy grey-orange hair. Sarah exchanged a glance with Kyle. 'Nobody too old or too young or too sick or too weak'. This woman challenging his very words.

"Hello Michelle, how long have you been on your own?"

"Oh, umm, I'd say it's been since the infection." She smiled at him.

"Wait, so, you've been alone for a week?"

"Yes, approximately seven days." She nodded.

"And, how did you survive?"

"Oh! My apologies! I forgot." She walked back outside for a moment, then re-entered, wheeling a wagon behind her. The wagon was stacked to over-flowing capacity with guns, ammunition and other violent objects including a chainsaw and a javelin. It was all tied down neatly with bright pink yarn.

"Whoa …" Kyle stared in awe. "Where did you …?

"Oh! Well, my husband, Charles, bless his un-dead soul, he liked to collect war memorabilia and guns, and he had this crazed conspiracy theory about aliens coming to abduct everybody in 2012, which I guess wasn't too far off, but he made up an armoury of things to use against them."

"Whoa …" Kyle repeated.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt a meeting?" Michelle asked innocently.

"Umm … no, it's okay."

"No, no, sonny, when I was a kid, if I interrupted a meeting my mother would slap my hide with the belt."

"Oh, umm, okay." Francois said. "What was I talking about?" he asked as Michelle sat daintily beside Sarah.

"You bossed us around," Peters said.

Michelle looked surprised and tisked, but didn't speak.

"Right! So my plan is as follows, on the roof; Aaron and Michel."

"Oh, I'm very sorry, but if we're gearing up for a battle, you're all free to use my weaponry," Michelle said.

"Umm, okay, thanks." He gestured for the two boys to go and select a weapon.

Aaron dug through and picked up an automatic Assault Rifle, smiling. Michel grabbed a Hunter Rifle. As an afterthought they both picked up a pistol.

"What are these?" Michel asked, picking up a high-tech looking belt. It had rings on it and several folded Velcro pockets.

"Oh, those are war-belts. Or so my husband labelled." Michelle smiled brightly. "Those rings are for the bombs, you just pluck them off and it takes the ring off with it, so you can just throw it. The pouches are for ammunition, so you can carry it with you, and that little stretchable band is for flashlights, or a thermos."

"Fantastic," Aaron breathed, gearing up. He slipped three pipe bombs onto the rings, loaded up on ammo for his pistol and rifle, and the slipped the pistol into the flashlight loop.

"You could use it for that too, yes." Michelle nodded. Michel followed his lead and loaded up.

"Okay," Domino said as they took the belts back to their seats. "Daphne, I want you at a fourth floor window. The attack will come mostly from the street, because of the fence behind the hospital, and the buildings to the side."

"Oh, no, that won't do. A young girl needs protection. I'll shoot with her." The old woman reached over and patted Daphne's hand kindly. "I'll keep you safe dear."

"Umm … thanks," she said. The two of them walked over to the wagon. Michelle grabbed all of her equipment in under a minute, choosing a massive sniper rifle and a pistol.

"What's this?" Daphne asked, picking up a pistol with a scope on the top.

"Oh, dearest, that's my husband's own invention. He called it a Pistol-Rifle. You know, a sniper, but handheld. Quite powerful, here take two!"

"Below them, on the third floor –"

"The third floor is still under construction on the north wing." Peters said obnoxiously.

"The north wing, the one looking out on the street?"

"Yes."

"The one that's all open and would make this person totally vulnerable?" Domino confirmed.

"Yes."

"That's where I want you Kyle."

"What? Gee thanks," Kyle said. "Give me the dangerous location."

"I'm sorry, but you're the most aggressive fighter, from what I hear, plus if you're in trouble, Daphne, Michelle, Aaron and Michel will all be able to hear you." Kyle picked up a white sniper rifle with red lines painted on it, and stashed up on ammo to go with it."That leaves myself, Jocelyn, Braxton and Sarah on the ground." The four of them grabbed their weaponry. "Now, it's about five, but I suggest we all get to sleep now. We'll need to be well rested for tomorrow's battle. Okay?" There were grumbles of agreement and everybody moved away, back to their rooms.

* * *

The next morning was not nearly as pleasant as the day previous. The winds blew and the rain was fierce. Braxton found a radio and called for help, but in the over-cast sky, rescue wasn't certain. There was no way to tell if the broadcast had even gone through.

The survivors were positioned in various locations around the hospital. Right on cue, at three in the morning, the zombies attacked.

Michel and Aaron were the first to see them, and as twenty odd Hunters sprang from building top to building top, their bullets acted as an alert that the battle had begun.

Aaron held his gun up to his eye and peered through. The Hunter that was in the lead sprang out into the plaza beneath him. He shot it and the bullets sprayed, streaking past it. One hit its foot, the momentum causing it to spin around and slam into a window below them, a shard of glass dicing through its jugular.

Michel pulled off a wicked headshot on two Hunters at the same time, then turned for another one, but a Smoker grabbed his gun. Somebody from below shot it, but Michel found himself dangling over the edge. Aaron grabbed his wrist and pulled him back up, spinning around to murder a Hunter that had snuck up behind them.

* * *

Michelle hummed calmly to herself as she shot into the oncoming hoard. They were so thick in number that you couldn't see the pavement. Almost all of her shots were K.O.s and she handled her sniper like a pro. She had a zip-lock bag of blueberries at her side and she paused periodically to take a bite.

Daphne shot at a Hunter that was jumping for the people above them, but missed.

Michelle covered her, shooting it down lazily. After that, she began to find her groove with the new weapons and managed to kill more successfully.

* * *

Kyle saw a Charger barrelling down the street towards them and set his sights there. The first shot hit its over-inflated arm and made little impact. The second went straight into his gut and slowed him down a little. The third was a headshot, and he fell backwards, on top of a Jockey that had been charging behind him, crushing it.

* * *

That was all there was until the ground crew was swarmed. They held strong and kept their backs against one another. Sarah and Braxton armed with uzis, the other two sporting shotguns.

"Hello? This is command do you copy?"

"Hello?" Braxton yelled into the radio.

"We have received your transmission, we're on our way."

"Hurry up! We're under attack!"

"Hold your positions! We'll be right there." The radio clicked off. Braxton sprayed bullets out over the crowd, nailing a few zombies in the face, and slowing down several more.

Sarah, across from him, took an entirely different approach. She took aim in the general direction of any Special Infected, then didn't stop shooting 'till they'd been brought down.

Domino used his bulk to his advantage, beating down any zombies who got too close, and shooting them once they'd backed away a significant amount. He grimaced as the greenish-red zombie blood splattered across his jaw.

Jocelyn had tied her hair back to keep it out of her face and was shooting from the waist. Pumping, then shooting, pumping, then shooting.

"Fuck!" she yelled as a Smoker tongue caught her by the throat. Sarah and Braxton moved to form a triangle, filling the space she'd vacated, and shot at the distant figure. Soon, however, Jocelyn was too far away for them to get.

* * *

"Jocelyn. Smoker," Michel said.

Aaron turned and aimed, pulling off a sweet headshot. Jocelyn stopped moving, but the zombies still held her down. From his position, Aaron picked off any zombies on the outside of the group, and only hitting the inner group when they weren't as close to his friend, for fear of shooting her. He picked up his walky-talky and radioed in to the ground crew.

"Jocelyn's pinned down by the Pet-Mart," he said.

* * *

"Jocelyn's pinned down by the Pet-Mart," Sarah relayed and the triage moved as a whole until they reached her. Domino elbowing them away and then lifting her up. She put away her pistol, which she had been using to fight, and picked up her shotgun once again. The quartet was restored.

* * *

"What's that one called, sweetums?" Michelle asked Daphne. She looked where she was aiming.

"A Spitter, I believe."

"What's it do?"

"Shoot it and find out." Daphne was glad she had been paired up with this lady. Michelle did indeed shoot the pregnant looking cretin, causing it to fall backwards in a puddle of its own acid.

"Oh, isn't that delightful!" She beamed and popped a berry through her puckered lips.

"Now, can that hurt the other zombies?"

"I don't think so. I think the virus acts as an immunization, you know, all of the senses are heightened, so pain just, isn't there. It's mildly annoying though."

"How do you know so much? If you don't mind me asking."

"Well, one of my friends, Vivian." Daphne paused to shoot a Hunter out of the air. "She knew a lot about the game that was made to warn people about this company, The New Generation, and how they were trying to create a new world where only the super healthy would survive."

"The New Generation? Oh dear, my grandson works there. This is awfully unpleasant. Chris Ricardo? Do you know if he had anything to do with it?"

"No, I don't know anything about it except for what me and Aaron found on the office computer at their office building," she explained, continuing to fire.

"Oh, I see. Well, Aaron, that's that charming brunette boy right?"

"I guess, yeah, that's him."

"Is he your boyfriend?" She winked at her. Daphne blushed.

"Hah, no, Aaron was Vivian's boyfriend for like, four years."

"Was?"

"She died … In a helicopter crash when we returned to Canada from Belize after the infection happened … He tried to be a leader, so he doesn't have to deal with his own feelings and stuff. He's really good with helping other people, but sometimes I worry that he's doing it so that he isn't forced into confrontation. No, I shouldn't say that, Adam's not bad with confrontation, or at least, not externally. It's internal confrontation he's scared of. He doesn't think I notice, but I do."

"You sound very intuitive child. That's admirable." Daphne blushed again. "What about that other brunette boy, Michel?"

"Oh, Michel. Well, I did like him, but I was also friends with him, and then a few years back, I decided that it was too hard having feelings for him that weren't …" She paused, shot a zombie and searched for the right word.

"Reciprocal?"

"Yeah …" Daphne said. "I think Michel's afraid of getting attached to people, or, I think he was. Now I feel like he likes me, but I don't like him, especially because he just feels obligated to want to be with somebody, I mean, with everybody dead, I think he doesn't want to die alone. You know?"

"They said your generation had to save our own. The mistakes that we made," Michelle said. "Listening to you, I still have my hopes."

"Thank you."

"There are still two other boys though."

"Braxton and Kyle?" Daphne asked. "Jocelyn and Braxton have a thing together. I guess she kissed him or something after Viv died."

"Jocelyn? Oh! The shy one."

"Yeah, her."

"And Kyle?"

"Well …" Daphne started, but trailed off as the steady thumping of rotary blades filled the air. They both looked up as the military helicopter approached. A soldier flung open the door and shot a missile into the hoard, taking out at least forty with a single shot.

"It seems re-enforcements have arrived!" Michelle said happily.

* * *

Kyle broke out into a grin as the chopper neared. They were safe. He thought.

A Hunter dove onto his floor, but Kyle didn't see. His vision obscured by a large tarp that blew over in the storm and flew over him.

"Whoa!"

* * *

"Take the ladder!" a man yelled into his bullhorn. The other man blasted another lot of zombies. They were still coming in, but it was less thick.

"Go, Mr. Domino, get up and cover us," Braxton said. The bigger man nodded and began to climb. He reached the top and turned around beside the rocket man and shot down into the onslaught.

"Sarah, you next," Jocelyn commanded. Her cousin obliged, reaching the top quickly.

"Okay, JL, go!" she yelled back.

Jocelyn grabbed the ladder, but a car flew past, hitting the chopper skids. It flew up and out of the way. Jocelyn dropped back to the ground. The Tank was coming in strong and fast, but three shots from the rocket launcher brought it to its feet. The ladder, unfortunately, had been torn away, so the only way anybody else could board was if the ground was clear for landing.

* * *

Kyle swore at their misfortune once he'd unveiled himself from the plastic."Come on!" he yelled. The Hunter growled and attacked. It smashed him to the ground and, upon realizing that there were no reinforcements, sank its teeth deep into his neck.

* * *

Kyle screamed in pain as the virus began to cripple his body. Braxton and Jocelyn stood back to back in the streets below, firing off clip after clip into the hoard, while Sarah and Boudreau took aim and fired into the onslaught. Aaron heard the scream from the roof top and his heart stopped. He looked at Michel.

"We've lost so many already. I can't let him die!" Michel nodded and beckoned for him to go.

Daphne met him in the hallway, as he descended the stairs onto the top floor of the hospital building. She had abandoned her perch in the windows, most likely leaving Michelle to shoot by herself. Wordlessly they raced down the next set of stairs and then down the hall until they reached the room, the construction left it bare and Aaron shouted Kyle's name, ploughing through tarps as he went.

Daphne found him, his throat torn out by a Hunter who was still atop him, she screamed and Aaron grabbed a screwdriver from nearby, leaping over and stabbing it through the fiends head.

"Don't ... don't let it ..." Kyle started, reaching up and grabbing Daphne's leg.

"We won't." Daphne shook her head, tears in her eyes. "We never will."

"I've got you Kyle, hold on!" Aaron whispered, he grabbed duct tape from nearby and wrapped it around Kyle's neck, stopping the blood flow. Kyle's skin began to turn, purple and grey. He reached up and pushed his hood over his eyes.

"No! Don't give in to it!" Daphne's tears fell readily down her cheeks, splashing against the pavement.

"You're not going to turn, Kyle!" Aaron yelled, frantically searching his pockets. Daphne bent and pressed his hands back, leaving his head free.

"I ... I don't want to ..."

"And you won't!" Aaron yelled, his voice was thick now. Kyle's hair started to grey and thin out, his teeth elongating.

* * *

Michel shot out into the crowd, but it was steadily thinning out. He watched in horror, however, as three other Tanks burst onto the scene. Two tossed odd materials at the chopper, while the third jumped for it. The heavy weaponry man had time enough to kill one, before they went down in an explosion of flame and fire. Fortunately, this took out the second Tank. Unfortunately, well, Michael didn't want to think about it.

"No!" he yelled, but two Hunters hit him together, knocking him to the concrete. He wheezed in pain as they beat into him, ripping him to pieces.

* * *

"No, no, no, no!" Daphne sobbed, her tears touched his face as she bent over him.

Aaron pulled out the folded up piece of paper from his shorts pocket. He unfolded it slowly, it was the theory, the formula.

"Don't let him finish, Daphne!" Aaron begged and then burst from the room.

"Is he contaminated?" Peters burst out of one of the secure offices. "He isn't safe, we must kill him."

"If you kill him, so help me God, I will slit your throat while you sleep. I need blood, now!"

"I'm going to kill him." The doctor cocked the gun in his arms and Aaron pulled his pistol from his back pocket, turning and shooting the doctor in the head. He took off down the hall as Peters sank to the ground, dead, before reaching the blood bank. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

"They feed on blood, it's so obvious, none of them want to be this way, so they need their blood to be replenished completely so their body will have enough strength and energy and functional qualities that it can repair and detoxify itself." Aaron said to himself, more to reassure that his theory would work. He tore down the hall with sacks of red liquid, O-, on a cart in front of them. He reached the construction site as quickly as he could.

"Aah!" Kyle screamed again, his body shivering as his skin began to stretch tight and his gums and lips turned redder.

"Blood! He needs blood, now!" Aaron yelled from the doorway, he started unloading the packets, but couldn't bring them quick enough. Daphne reached behind her as Kyle grabbed her shirt colour, tears of pain streaming down his cheeks. She grabbed a nail and stabbed it through her forearm, holding it above his mouth, looking away as the salty taste of her tears reached her lips.

Kyle sprang up, latching onto her wrist and sucking feverishly. Aaron unloaded the last of the bags and forced Kyle away from her, but he had taken at least two pints of blood in that short time frame, and Daphne was still bleeding. A tiny bit of white had returned to the apples of his cheeks, but was fading fast. Daphne looked weak.

"Kyle, hold on to your humanity!"

"Blood ... survive ... dying ... hurts ... make ... stop ... please," he begged as another tidal wave of excruciating pain coursed through his veins. His scream was louder this time.

"You can't leave us!" Aaron ripped open a blood bag and poured it on Kyle's head. He lapped it up and more colour returned to him, healing quicker due to not having changed completely yet.

"I feel ..." Daphne whispered and then collapsed onto the floor.

" God damn it!" Aaron punctured another bag and held it to Kyle, he grabbed it like a juice box and started to drink. His teeth receded to their normal size.

"More," Kyle begged pathetically, Aaron vowed never to bring this up if it worked in the end. Daphne didn't remember her zombie-like experiences, hopefully neither would he. Aaron grabbed a third bag and gave it to him, he bit into it, grinding open a hole of his own. Sweat was breaking out on his forehead and Daphne's breathing started to get shallow as more blood drained from her wrist. Kyle's hair started to thicken.

"You killed Peters!" Sophia barged into the doorway, gun in hand. Kyle, ignoring the interruption, lurched onto the fifth bag. Sophia aimed her gun at Aaron and stared at his companions. Daphne had begun to shiver where she lay, and Kyle looked like a wolf on its prey after months of starvation.

"He wouldn't help me!" Aaron stood slowly, raising his hands. "He wouldn't let me go!"

Sophia raised a pistol of her own and he flinched, but she didn't pull the trigger.

"What happens when he's finished drinking? Huh?" she screeched. The sounds of the massacre outside was dulled and time seemed to slow. "No matter, a life for a life. It's only fair." And she pulled the trigger. Aaron fell to his knees, coughing up blood. The bullet wound in his stomach was gaping, from side to side.

* * *

Michelle knew, even before Daphne had left, that the doctors would turn. She wept now, no longer cheerful. She had grown to like these people, but now they were gone. She watched the scene below, as Braxton and Jocelyn fought valiantly. She had seen the other brunette boy, Michel, tumble over the edge and fall past her. The bullets from above and below had stopped, and with the helicopter down, she was their only hopes, but there were only around fifty zombies total remaining, and she still had hope.

* * *

Daphne whimpered and tried to reach out, but Sophia stomped over to her.

"I suppose you had your hand in this too huh, you little bitch." She aimed her gun and shot Daphne, the gun kicked, and the bullet shot straight through Daphne's shoulder. She turned to Kyle who looked slightly disoriented as he finished the last bag. The eighth. One pint per bag.

"And then you, you dirty little mutt. That's all you are, that's all you'll ever be," she sneered and levelled the gun.

"You killed them ..." Kyle gasped, staring at Aaron and Daphne, eyes closed, unmoving in their own piles of blood. Sophia looked taken aback.

"You can talk?"

"They saved me." Kyle's eyes watered as he reached out to stroke Daphne's hair away from her eyes, she didn't move. He pushed against Aaron, then grabbed him by the shoulders, but he too, stayed immobile.

"No matter, you'll just decay back to what you once were." Sophie pulled the trigger, but it was too late: Kyle had already sprang across the room, tackled her to the ground and ripped out her throat.

"No matter what you are, no matter what I'm becoming, I'm glad I was insane enough to do that." He drank her blood and completed the change back to normal, then fell to the ground in tears beside the other two.

"You died for me," he sobbed. "You didn't even know me!"

"That's what we do," Jocelyn said sadly, entering the room. He jumped. "We help people, we save the people we care about. So what if we didn't know you, we cared about you, we still care about you," she said, tears whirled down her face.

"Why? Why did they have to die?"

"The same reason we're the only ones left alive," Jocelyn said, her voice breaking. "We were chosen to save these people. Before this journey, I didn't believe there was such a thing as fate. Now, I believe stronger than ever."

* * *

The helicopter was a wreck on the ground nearby, the pilot was dead. Sarah's skull was gushing blood, and Francois Domino was already showing signs of turning. Braxton Crow's body was marred and mauled by zombies outside in the middle of the street, alone and cold. Michel's body was torn across the rooftop, and now pieces lay in a heap at the bottom of the hospital, the awning above them stained with blood. Peters lay in the hospital hallway, a bullet wound in his face. Sophia's body had been covered by a sheet that a gust of wind had blown down. Aaron and Daphne curled next to one another, still bleeding, Michelle lay alone, huddled beside a dead hunter.

* * *

"Not like this ..." Daphne and Aaron's eyes opened simultaneously. Kyle and Jocelyn gasped and then grabbed them both tightly. "Still dying, dumbass," Aaron said, smiling dizzily.

"Right." Jocelyn ran from the room, returning shortly with first aid kits.

Sarah got up and started walking dizzily to Braxton. They embraced tightly. Crying. Cooper barked and bounded over to them, bursting out of where he'd been holed up in the hotel.

* * *

Jocelyn wrapped Aaron's abdomen tightly and he inhaled, then swore.

"It hurts to breath." He laughed. Daphne smiled dizzily.

"Drink this." Kyle gave her a blood packet, she looked confused. "I don't know how to do a blood transfusion, just drink it. You can't die either, neither one of you can."

"I'm working on it," Daphne joked. Jocelyn held back her squeamishness and started to stitch up Danielle's wrist, which had torn through to practically ligaments, she then wrapped it tightly in gauze. Kyle, meanwhile, grabbed Aaron tightly in a bear hug."You saved my life!" He was almost crying still, so were the others.

"I couldn't let you die. I had a choice with you. I may not have been able to save the others, but I had the option of saving you. I couldn't ignore that." Aaron breathed happily. "But we're alive now, and we know the antidote."

"But Aaron, please don't tell Jillian what I was like when ... you know, don't tell anybody else we run into either."

"You remember?" Aaron asked, Daphne overheard them.

"Yes."

"Then that means ..." He turned to look at Daphne who started bawling harder, she shook her head yes.

"We are four. And we will survive." Jocelyn held out her fist, Kyle raised his, making a sly comment about how cheesy it was. Daphne lifted her non-bandaged hand and Aaron stacked his last. And as another helicopter roared to life in the sky above them, and the sun set, their three companions joined them.

* * *

Three months later, six teenagers led a funeral for a much older lady, without whom, none of them could have survived their ordeal. All of them freshly showered and clean shaven in hand designed dress clothing.

"Michelle Walters was an amazing woman, and though I only knew her for these last few months, she was invaluable. Without her and her quirky nature, none of us, not one, would have survived," Aaron said. He was different now, changed over the last four months. The awkward, know-it-all, boy had grown up into a man. He was braver, stronger, tougher, and somehow, gentler.

Cooper never left his side, including during lab work, even know he stood beside him with a black tie wrapped awkwardly around his neck.

Aaron was dressed in a black Armani tux, hand-polished shoes and a white tie. Across his breast was a small pin. ZLS was beaded onto it in rubies over an emerald studded background. Zombie-Land-Survivor. He never took it off.

At the military base Aaron was working with the scientists and doctors, trying to come up with a solute that would replicate blood entirely. They were coming close, and the harder and later into the night he worked, the happier he felt, knowing that he could help people, so that nobody had to wind up like his girlfriend. Dead and alone, left behind in a world of hurt.

When Aaron wasn't working on the vaccination, he was curing new arrivals; usually teenagers or young adults, but one occasion made him recognized in the eyes of the soldiers.

A little girl, no more than six or seven, had ran towards the patrolled gates of the base. A hoard was after her, and her only companion was a single teddy-bear. Aaron grabbed her before she was overwhelmed and brought her in. Her name was Keke, and she was alone and afraid. For a week Keke hid in a crawlspace she discovered in the lab, and everyday Aaron gave her his entire lunch, living off of supplement pills and water.

At night Aaron sat outside of her door and sang to her until she slept. She became his daughter shortly after, when one day, to everybody's shock, she left her hiding spot and came to live with him.

* * *

"I remember, when she was just laying in her bed, these last few weeks, and she told us. She said, 'Kids, I could care less if I'm about to die, because I've met you and that may very well be the greatest gift I could have asked,' but I think it's really us who received the gift. For that I thank you, Grams," Jocelyn smiled warmly up at the sky. She too, had changed, she wasn't shy anymore, or reserved in the least.

Jocelyn was currently wearing a stunning purple dress that accentuated her natural curves, and her faithful British style Converse. She donned a pin, the exact same as Aaron's.

Jocelyn led the entire camp in a sermon, every Sunday. It wasn't particularly religious, unless you chose for it to be. She wished that wherever they were, anybody and everybody that they had lost would be happy wherever they were. Jocelyn never asked for money from the church-goers, she never tried to coerce them into working with her either. People came to remember, and she helped them to forget at the same time.

Jocelyn ran a confession too, whenever somebody had something they needed to get off their chest, they would write a note and leave it on her bunk. She would read it, and it would have a time on it. At that time, Jocelyn would go into her church and wait in the booth for whoever wrote the note. She had demolished the wall that was between them. She felt their no need for the other person to feel detached in any way.

The people would come and they would tell her everything and anything they could. They would cry and Jocelyn would console them, she would hug them for hours if need be, until they had the strength to go out and face the day again. She never fed them lies, or gave them promises she couldn't keep, but she always managed to make them feel worth something to somebody, and that, to most people, was the best thing anybody could do.

* * *

"I had the privilege to fight along said Grams in the war, and she was amazing, both in combat and out. Somehow, she managed to work both of them into each other. I remember, she had this bag of blueberries, and she would eat one every time she killed a zombie. She explained to me later that blue berries were her husband's favourite fruit, so every time she killed a zombie, she would eat one, just one, in memory of him," Daphne said, smiling sadly. She was wearing a deep red dress that bunched at the knees, and of course, the pin.

Daphne was strong now, that's not to say she didn't cry, she still did. At night when she thought of her family, or those three office workers. No, she cried, but she was not ashamed of herself, and she was not worried about what other people thought.

She had followed her original dream, and for the first month and a half, curled up in her bed with piles of medical journals on either side. She was the nurse at the base, she handled and knew everything. Having fought on the battlefield, she wasn't squeamish of blood, but she was tender to those who were. She handled everything from birthing to nose bleeds, and everything in between. Her partner, Adam, was so busy with his other work, that he only helped in high-risk situations, which wasn't often, so Daphne was pretty much the entire medical field at the Canadian Survivors Outpost.

Daphne was also engaged.

Around month two, she had been nursing Keke back from a bad cold when Kyle walked by in his uniform.

"You like him don't you?" Keke said. In Daphne's mind she recalled Kyle asking the same thing about Michel. It hurt to think about that.

"Yes," Daphne said. "I've liked him since ninth grade, but I never had time to tell him that."

"Do it now then." Keke said, and she had. She marched over, grabbed him by the collar and kissed him full on the lips. Her friends had applauded them both.

* * *

"I don't have too much to say about Grams," Sarah said. "But I will say, that you shouldn't be sad that she's dead. It's not what she would have wanted. In death, she is just as joyous and happy a person as she was before." Her dark green dress cut off at the knee on one side, making a diagonal down to her black heeled dress shoes. The team pin was present.

Sarah had sat and watched as all of her friends became focal figures in the camp. In science, religion, medicine, militia. She felt saddened, and felt she really had nothing to offer, and it wasn't until rations had fallen well below reasonable until she found her forte.

"Sarah!" The lieutenant boomed. He was a big, black man with no hair. "We need your help in the kitchen, none of us know how to make anything, and at the moment, we're almost out of food. We don't even know what we have."

"Well, I'm not really good with that stuff," Sarah admitted.

"That doesn't matter. Help us please."

"What about JL, she's a good cook."

"She's in confession."

"Aaron?"

"He and Daphne were flown to Vancouver to pick up a mortally wounded woman."

"Kyle?"

"He's out in the field."

"Braxton?"

"Look, Braxton and Grams are busy, we need you."

So Sarah helped them. She found food in the back of the fridge and the cupboard. She found supplements and vitamins and water. She fed the camp of 150 people from a single kitchen, and from that day on became head-chef of the camp.

* * *

"I loved Grams. I guess that's why we called her Grams. Because she was like a parent to us, and a grandparent. It's not just us either, me and Daphne and Sarah and our group. She was a mother to everybody who wanted her to be a mother," Kyle said firmly. He was smartly dressed in a dark green tux with his ZLS pin.

When he arrived at the camp, Kyle needed something to take his mind off of the zombies. He asked the lieutenant for a job, and running low on soldiers at the time, he recruited him.

Kyle excelled at his job and soon proved too valuable for just the Recruit position. The soldiers found him invaluable in combat and on rescue missions, so he was promoted to the Elite Forces.

Kyle started using the gym more and more often, working away his sorrow. He still attended services, but this was his own personal confession. He was promoted again not long after, to Drill Sergeant, but he loathed the position greatly, hating the feeling of being hated, and his fitness was high, so he moved on up steadily through the ranks. Eventually, Kyle reached the point of First Officer, and he held his position proudly.

After that day, when Daphne kissed him, he began to come up with ideas for a eventual decision truly was beautiful. Aaron woke Daphne up and led her to confession, where Jocelyn spoke to her. She told her that if she decided to take the next step, and move forwards, stepping out of the confessional, her entire life would change. Daphne nodded and did just that. Straight into Kyle's arms.

He proposed to her, then and there. She said yes.

* * *

"I don't have a lot to say about Grams that hasn't already been said," Braxton said. "So I'll say something else." He looked around in the crowd. "Jocelyn, could you come back up here please?" he asked.

She rose from her seat and walked strongly through the crowd. She smiled to people as she passed and shrugged when they would raise an eyebrow.

"I know this is odd, but I think that if Grams wanted something to happen at her funeral, it would be this." Bryson took his girlfriend's hand. She gasped as he pulled out a ring. "Jocelyn." He paused. "Will you marry me?"

There was a moment of silence in which everybody in the symposium held their breath. Then, "Yes!" Jocelyn squealed and Braxton burst into tears, slipping the ring on her finger. He hugged her tightly and moved to pick her up.

"But Braxton," she said. The audience quieted and Daphne and Sarah looked about ready to burst, obviously already knowing what was about to happen.

"Yeah?" he asked her, smiling.

"There's something that you need to know," she said.

"What's that?"

There was another moment of silence. "I'm pregnant!" The entire room burst into frantic applause. Kyle pulled Daphne in for a kiss and Bryson and Jillian did the same. Aaron clutched Keke and Cooper, and Sarah surveyed the others happily and moved to congratulate them.

* * *

The six survivors, no, the six heroes, had learned much from their battle with the un-dead, but their greatest victories, had all been internal, and so, as the sun set in the distance, they celebrated. They would never forget the people that had helped them get to this place. Wise Woman Forsyth, Vivian, Matt, Jon, Domino, Michel, even Dr. Peters and Sophia. No they wouldn't be forgotten, due to the bonds they had shared. The bonds, of blood.

* * *

That's it, and I'm proud of it. Love it or leave it, thanks to everybody who helped me get this far.


End file.
